CHINA 

FROM  WITHIN 


CHARLES  ERNEST  SCOTT 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

GIFT  OF 

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China  From  Within 


Students*  Lectures  on  Missions  ** .        ^, 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  igi4-igjj 

China  From  Within 

Impressions  and  Experiences 


By 

CHARLES  ERNEST  SCOTT,  M.A.,  D.D. 
Missionary  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Tsingtau,  China 


Introduction  by 
REV.  J.  ROSS  STEVENSON,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
President  of  Princeton  Theological  Seminary 


ILLUSTRATED 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming    H.     Revell    Company 

London  and        Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1917,  h^ 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  17  North  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:      100    Princes    Street 

GIFT 


Bv3'//5 


To  My  Honoured  Teacher 

Woodrow  Wilson 

President  of  the  United  States 

whose  prompt  recognition  of  the  Chinese  Republic 
and  whose  spirit  of  justice  and  fair  play  towards 
the  Chinese  have  won  the  respect  and  gratitude  of 
the  people  of  that  great  land,  causing  them  to  look 
upon  the  name  *' American'*  as  syno7iymous  with 
**Fnendl'  this  book  is  by  special  permission  respect- 
fully dedicated. 


M781754 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


OPPOSITE 
PAGE 


Rev.  Ting  Li  Mei — Celebrated  Chinese  Evangelist 

and  Student  Leader Title 

One  of  the  Elegant  New  Palatial  Hotels  in  Peking  38 

In  the  Yard  of  a  Rich  Gentryman  at  Kaomi  City. .  100 

Starting  on  a  Journey  in  South  China 134 

A  Scene  at  a  Festival 164 

Lions  for  Funeral  Procession 200 

Stilt  Walkers  at  a  Funeral  Festivity 244 

The  Old  Order  Changeth,  Giving  Place  to  New. '  \.  316 


<< 


Introduction 

THE  student  lectureship  on  missions  at  Princeton 
Seminary  was  established  in  1892  to  provide  an 
annual  course  of  lectures  on  some  topic  con- 
nected with  foreign  missions  of  practical  importance  to 
those  looking  forward  to  missionary  work.  Eev.  James 
S.  Dennis,  D.  D.,  an  honoured  alumnus  of  the  Seminary, 
generously  aided  in  securing  the  endowment  for  this 
lectureship  and  gave  the  first  course  which  was  published 
under  the  title,  **  Foreign  Missions  After  a  Century.  ^^ 
He  subsequently  delivered  a  course  which  became  the 
basis  of  his  monumental  work  *'  Christian  Missions  and 
Social  Progress.'^  Dr.  Dennis  set  a  high  standard  for 
this  lectureship,  which  has  been  continued  for  twenty- 
five  years,  and  which  has  not  only  given  instruction  to  a 
large  body  of  students,  but  has  contributed  to  missionary 
libraries  books  of  the  greatest  value,  embodying  the  ex- 
periences and  conclusions  of  eminent  church  leaders.  In 
selecting  Dr.  Charles  E.  Scott,  of  China,  to  serve  as  the 
missionary  lecturer  for  the  year  1914-15,  the  Committee 
was  in  line  with  the  well-established  precedents  of  ex- 
cellence. Dr.  Scott's  services  in  China  as  a  successful 
evangelist,  as  a  well-equipped  teacher,  administrator  and 
church  builder  ;  his  broad  experience  and  thorough  study 
of  present  day  conditions  entitled  him  to  speak  with 
authority  on  the  subjects  he  selected.  The  course  of 
lectures  as  delivered  attracted  large  audiences  and  was 
followed  with  eager  attention  and  evident  profit.  It  was 
clearly  demonstrated  that  Dr.  Scott  had  not  onJy  discovered 

9 


10  INTRODUCTION 

China's  greatest  needs  and  hopes,  but  had  himself,  as  a 
missionary,  been  applying  the  only  remedy  therefor — 
the  remedy  which  can  heal,  redeem  and  uplift  and  which 
is  found  in  the  power  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  the  experienced 
evangelist  who  best  knows  any  country  ^* from  within." 
The  present  volume  will  serve  as  a  useful  handbook  for 
those  who  contemplate  mission  service  in  the  Orient  and 
will  be  serviceable  to  all  who  are  interested  in  the  prob- 
lems of  world  evangelization.  Dr.  Scott's  book  is  replete 
with  valuable  information,  is  charged  with  the  spirit  of 
apostolic  enthusiasm  and  carries  with  it  the  tonic  of  a 
lofty  and  wide-reaching  outlook. 

J.  Boss  Stevenson,  D.  D. 
Princeton,  K  J, 


Preface 

WHILE  on  furlough  in  the  United  States  I  was 
surprised  to  find  that  there  are  many  even  in 
the  Christian  Church  who  deny  the  usefulness 
of  Missions  in  China,  and  therefore  their  right  to  be. 
Iliis  course  of  lectures  is  not  intended  to  be  an  argument 
for  that  right  or  usefulness.  Bather  it  is  an  humble  testi- 
mony by  a  student  on  the  field  to  the  ability  and  achieve- 
ments of  the  Chinese ;  to  the  lostness  of  China  out  of 
Christ ;  and  to  our  Lord's  sufficiency  even  fpr  China,  the 
vastest  single  prize  on  this  planet  for  continued  mastery 
over  which  Satan  contends. 

Though  venturing  to  make  no  claim  to  erudition  in 
things  Chinese,  and  though  hard-pressed  with  itinerating 
engagements  in  the  American  churches,  yet  I  was  glad  to 
accede  to  the  request  of  a  committee  of  my  revered  pro- 
fessors to  give  the  Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Mis- 
sion Lectures  for  1914-1915. 

I  am  deeply  conscious  of  the  inadequacy  of  these  lec- 
tures. But  my  prayer  is  that  they  may  increase  interest 
in  the  great  *^  land  of  Sinim  '*  of  which  Isaiah  prophesied 
so  gloriously — particularly  among  the  future  ministers  of 
the  Gospel  for  whom  they  were  originally  prepared,  but 
also  among  the  larger  constituency  that  may  chance  to 
read  them. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  Professor  Benjamin  B.  Warfield, 
D.  D.,  of  Princeton  Seminary,  for  his  assistance  in  pre- 
paring the  manuscript  for  the  press  and  for  seeing  it 
through  the  press. 

U 


12  PREFACE 

I  wish  also  to  thank  Professor  John  D.  Davis,  T>.  D., 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  the  lectureship,  for  en- 
couraging me  to  undertake  the  task,  and  also  President 
J.  Ross  Stevenson,  D.  D.,  for  kindly  preparing  an  In- 
troduction to  this  volume ;  as  well  as  several  religious 
and  missionary  journals  and  magazines,  particularly 
The  Sunday  School  Times  and  The  Missionary  Beview  of  the 
Worldj  for  courteously  permitting  me  to  use  paragraphs 
and  short  articles  which  have  appeared  in  their  pages 
and  are  now  incorporated  in  these  lectures. 

I  regret  that  the  publication  of  the  lectures  has  been 
somewhat  delayed.  One  of  the  results  is  that  certain 
adjustments  require  to  be  made.  These  concern  not  only 
allusions  to  contemporary  events,  which  are  no  longer 
exactly  contemporary ;  but  also  descriptions  of  conditions, 
some  of  which,  in  these  rapidly  moving  times,  have  been 
modified.  The  distance  between  China  and  America  has 
made  it  impracticable  for  the  author  to  make  these  adjust- 
ments for  his  readers.  He  can  only  ask  them  benevo- 
lently to  bear  in  mind  that  they  are  sometimes  reading 
history  when  the  forms  of  statement  are  thrown  into  the 
present  tense.  If  they  will  kindly  remember  that,  the 
lectures,  I  trust,  will  not  have  suffered  from  the  passage 
of  time.  All  description  of  living  things  becomes  history 
as  soon  as  it  is  made,  in  any  event 

0.  E.  S. 
Tsinfftauj  North  China,  1917, 


Contents 


I. 

The  Land  and  the  People 

17 

II. 

EaoialTeaits 

.      57 

III. 

The  Crises  of  China's  Ancient  Wallei 
Cities 

) 

91 

IV. 

Sowing  the  Good  Seed     . 

131 

V. 

The  Market  and  the  Tent 

161 

YI. 

The  Call  and  Its  Answer 

193 

VII. 

Salt  and  Its  Savour         .        .        .        . 

231 

VIII. 

"  It  Shall  Not  Come  Nigh  Thee  '' 

265 

IX. 

The  Promise  in  Its  First-Fruits   . 

295 

13 


I 

The  Land  and  the  People 
A  Study  of  Some  Historical  Facts 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE 

"  A  ND  He  made  of  one  every  nation  of  men  for  to 
/\      dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,  having  deter- 

JL  JL  mined  their  appointed  seasons,  and  the  bounds 
of  their  habitation  ;  that  they  should  seek  God  "  (Acts 
17  :  26,  27).  With  this  summary  of  the  divine  philoso- 
phy of  history  in  mind,  the  story  of  China  becomes  one  of 
absorbing  interest.  If  it  be  true  of  nations,  to  adopt  Dr. 
Weymouth's  translation,  that  God  has  fixed  ^'a  time  for 
their  rise  and  fall,  and  the  limits  of  their  settlements,'' 
or,  according  to  Dean  Alford,  that  God  has  "prescribed 
to  each  nation  its  space  to  dwell  and  its  time  of  endur- 
ance," the  history  of  that  nation  which  comprises  nearly 
one  quarter  of  the  human  race,  and  whose  "time  of  en- 
durance" has  exceeded  that  of  any  other  Empire,  and 
which  to-day  is  "rousing  itself  from  the  torpor  of  ages 
and  under  the  influence  of  new  and  powerful  revolution- 
ary forces,"  cannot  but  be  of  commanding  interest  and 
importance. 

"  Even  the  discovery  of  the  American  continent  and 
its  islands,  and  the  organization  of  society  and  govern- 
ment upon  them,  grand  and  important  as  these  events 
have  been,  were  but  conditional,  preliminary,  and  an- 
cillary to  the  more  sublime  result  now  in  act  of  consum- 
mation— the  reunion  of  the  two  civilizations  which,  parting 
on  the  plains  of  Asia  four  thousand  years  ago,  and  travel- 
ling ever  afterwards  in  opposite  directions  around  the 
world,  now  meet  again  on  the  coasts  and  islands  of  the 

19 


^ 


20  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

Pacific  Ocean.  Certainly  no  mere  human  event  of  equal 
dignity  and  importance  has  ever  occurred  upon  the  earth. " 
This  profound  reflection  was  enunciated  by  Lincoln's 
great  secretary,  William  H.  Seward.  And  the  chief 
factor  on  the  western  side  of  the  Pacific  in  this  fateful 
reunion  is  China. 

Mr.  Seward's  words  embody  the  deliberate  verdict  of 
a  galaxy  of  men,  clear-eyed  and  far-visioned — American 
statesmen  like  Clay,  Benton,  Webster  ;  European  pub- 
licists like  DeTocqueville  and  Viscount  Bryce  ;  foreign 
generals  like  Chinese  Gordon,  Lords  Wolseley  and 
Roberts;  Asiatic  administrators  like  Kitchener,  Sir 
Robert  Hart,  Lord  Curzon  and  Dr.  Morrison ;  veteran 
missionaries  like  Martin,  Mateer,  and  Hayes ;  diplo- 
mats like  Count  Cassini,  J.  W.  Foster,  Wells  Williams, 
and  Anson  Burlingame ;  expert  government  advisers 
like  Adams  of  Michigan,  and  Schurmann  of  Cornell  j 
naval  strategists  like  Mahan,  Von  Tirpitz,  and  Lord 
Beresford.  They  believe  that  China  is  the  coming  land 
of  towering  importance.  This  unanimity  of  conviction, 
possessing  all  classes  of  investigators,  is  one  of  the  sur- 
prises that  confronts  the  student  of  Far  Eastern  Politics. 
In  a  world  where,  and  at  this  particular  time  when,  its 
leaders  are  so  wofuUy  at  odds  as  to  policies ;  when  rulers 
differ  so  hopelessly  in  their  view-point  as  to  the  fate  of 
neighbour  nations  j  this  singular  accord  of  opinion  as  to 
the  future  greatness  of  China  is  truly  remarkable. 

Napoleon,  who  usually  thought  in  world-terms,  foresaw 
this  day,  saying  :  *^  A  lion  is  asleep.  Do  not  wake  him. 
When  China  is  aroused  she  will  change  the  face  of  the 
world. "  The  Kings  and  Kaisers  and  Czars,  their  courts 
and  cabinets  and  chancelleries,  have  long  understood 
this,  and  only  too  well.  Accordingly  they  have  con- 
centrated upon  China  their  most  searching  investigation, 
careful   balancing   of  high  probabilities,   and  astutest 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  21 

machinations.  Some  of  the  craftiest  schemes  of  dynastic 
glory  and  uiitioiial  aggrandizement  that  ever  came  out  of 
Europe  have  been  at  the  expense  of  China.  Why! 
Because  they  realize  that,  as  Lord  Beresford  says: 
**  Whoever  shall  find  a  way  to  dominate  China,  either 
through  commerce  or  conquest  of  arms,  will  be  able  to 
master  the  world  even  more  effectively  than  did  Eome  in 
her  day." 

And  while  the  reason  for  the  present  world-war  is  the 
unwillingness  of  Christendom  to  accept  the  law  of  Christ 
as  the  rule  of  life,  another  reason  that  forms  one  of  the 
main  backgrounds  for  it  is  the  English  and  German  com- 
petition that  had  become  ever  keener  and  more  tense,  for 
trade  and  political  influence  in  China,  most  potential  of 
markets  and  the  exploiter's  paradise.  And  after  the 
Entente  and  Central  Powers  have  settled  scores,  many 
believe  that  Eussia  and  Japan,  even  though  now  allies, 
will  continue  the  rivalry  for  this  great  prize,  until  one 
beats  down  the  other. 

The  powers  all  realize  that  China  is  to  bulk  increas- 
ingly immensely  in  the  world's  affairs— and,  from  their 
view-point,  bulk  menacingly.  Having  seized  ten-twelfths 
of  Africa,  and  practically  all  the  islands  of  the  seas,  and 
having  subjugated  or  vassalized  Asia,  vastest  of  con- 
tinents (except  Japan  and  China,  out  of  the  latter  of 
which  huge  slices  have  been  gouged),  they  cannot  view 
with  equanimity  the  Coming  of  the  Yellow  Man.  It 
does  not  harmonize  with  the  selfish  and  sedulously  culti- 
vated and  ostentatiously  assumed  sense  of  racial  superi- 
ority of  the  white  man,  which  assumption  will  have  to 
be  eradicated  by  his  *^  eating  much  bitterness "  (as  the 
Chinese  would  say)  ;  for  that  assumption  is  a  gratuitous 
and  insulting  reflection  on  the  character,  history,  and 
ability  of  the  great  races  of  the  East. 

And  yet,  despite  all  asseverations  of  white  superiority, 


22  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

this  huge,  inchoate  thing  looming  out  of  the  East  excites 
apprehension.  Men  are  in  no  wise  certain  that  their 
position  is  one  of  security,  of  primacy,  in  the  face  of  the 
Asiatic  breaking  the  barriers  of  his  age-long  isolation. 
Hence  for  decades  their  policy  of  feverish  preparation ; 
this  carving  of  territory  while  they  dare  ;  this  binding  by 
European  Liliputians  of  the  Asiatic  Gulliver  before  he 
fully  rouses. 

And  those  familiar  with  the  new  spirit  that  now  seethes 
in  the  Orient  can  conceive  of  how  Europe,  when  it  has 
decimated  itself  with  this  sanguinary  war  among  its  own 
members,  may  be  faced  with  a  vaster,  more  deadly  one, 
arising  from  the  East.  There  is  wrath,  intense  and 
brooding,  at  the  outrages  perpetrated  by  Europe  upon  it. 
There  is  fierce  resentment  against  the  white  man's  arro- 
gance, so  brutally  displayed.  There  is  an  exultant  real- 
ization that,  given  modern  arms  and  training,  it  need 
no  longer  cringe  before  the  relentless  Western  powers. 
It  has  beaten  them  ^^many  times,  scores  of  times,"  as 
Professor  A.  B.  Hart  of  Harvard  reminds  us.  And  the 
whole  East,  as  symbolized  in  China,  has  lifted  up  its 
head  in  the  presence  of  the  new  and  terrible  castigations, 
that,  within  a  decade,  the  Japanese  have  visited  upon 
the  two  foremost  military  powers  of  the  world. 

There  are  certain  mountain -peak  events  that  stand  out 
and  up  above  the  levels  of  history,  even  as  the  Himalayas 
tower  over  the  plains  of  Asia.  Among  them  are  the  de- 
parture of  Israel  from  Egypt ;  the  culture  of  Greece 
stamping  itself  upon  the  Mediterranean  civilizations ; 
and  Eome's  march,  over  her  roads  and  with  her  law,  to 
the  confines  of  Europe.  A  fourth  is  the  emergence  of 
China  from  her  seclusion.  Day  by  day  China  bulks 
larger  on  the  horizon  of  the  Church  Universal  and  of  all 
Governments.  And  whether  her  shadow  is  to  loom  por- 
tentous or  auspicious  for  the  nations  is  the  anxious  ques- 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     23 

tion  of  leaders  everywhere.  It  is  a  subject  so  iusisteut 
aud  paramount  that  it  bids  fair  iu  the  future  to  outrank, 
as  an  international  political  issue,  the  rivalry  of  Briton 
and  Teuton,  of  Eussia  and  Japan. 

China  is  the  burning  question  of  current  history — irre- 
pressible, fascinating  and  mysterious.  Like  Banquo^s 
ghost,  it  '*  will  not  down.''  The  impossibility  of  relegat- 
ing it  to  second  place  is  that  it  interpenetrates  the  great 
questions  of  foreign  policy  that  concern  the  leading  na- 
tions of  the  world.  With  the  discernment  of  committal 
to  Truth,  John  Hay  saw  this,  and,  prophet-like,  he 
spoke.  To  that  truly  good  and  great  friend  of  China, 
that  champion  of  international  justice  aud  fair  play,  to 
whom  armed  Europe  listened,  and  whom  Eoosevelt  called 
America's  ablest  Secretary  of  State,  is  accredited  the 
prescient  pronouncement:  ^'The  storm  centre  of  world 
politics,  despite  all  eddies,  has  swept  steadily  eastward 
— past  the  Holy  Eoman  Empire,  the  Balkans  and  Con- 
stantinople ;  past  the  Persian  Gulf  and  India ;  onward  to 
China,  where  it  will  remain  ;  and  whoever  understands 
China— socially,  economically,  politically,  intellectually, 
religiously — has  a  key  to  world  history  for  the  next  five 
centuries. ' '  And  Professor  Eeinsch,  now  American  Minis- 
ter to  Peking  and  long  student  of  the  Far  East,  felt  justi- 
fied more  than  a  decade  ago  in  writing  in  his  "  Welt- 
Politik ''  (p.  89) :  "A  careful  consideration  of  the  powers 
engaged  in  the  Chinese  struggle,  their  politics  and  tend- 
encies, is  of  the  greatest  necessity,  is  of  the  most  ab- 
sorbing interest.  As  a  result  of  the  emergence  of  China 
from  her  seclusion  a  drama  is  about  to  be  enacted,  the 
like  of  which  the  world  has  never  seen.  It  dwarfs  even 
the  conquests  of  Alexander  ;  and,  compared  with  this 
titanic  struggle,  the  exploits  of  Napoleon  seem  a  passing 
diversion — and  all  previous  meetings  between  the  Orient 
and  Occident  are  the  merest  frontier  skirmishes."    In 


24:  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

this  opinion  he  is  supported  by  the  testimony  of  modern 
experts,  witnesses  out  of  every  nation — a  notable  com- 
pany of  diplomats,  merchants,  bankers,  editors,  teach- 
ers, journalists,  manufacturers,  missionaries  who  have 
long  resided  in  China  and  long  studied  the  Far  East. 

If  monarchical  Europe  is  interested  in  China,  much 
more  should  democratic  America  be,  especially  since  the 
establishing  of  the  Eepublic.  The  new  administration 
at  Washington  voiced  that  interest  almost  as  soon  as  it 
assumed  authority.  President  Wilson,  in  a  State  Docu- 
ment given  to  the  world  March  22,  1913,  said:  ^'The 
Government  of  the  United  States  is  not  only  willing  but 
earnestly  desirous  of  aiding  the  great  Chinese  people  in 
every  way  that  is  consistent  with  their  untrammelled  de- 
velopment and  its  own  immemorial  principles.  The 
awakening  of  the  people  of  China  to  a  consciousness  of 
their  possibilities  under  free  government  is  the  most  sig- 
nificant if  not  the  most  momentous  event  of  our  genera- 
tion." And  that  good  interest  has  been  incontrovertibly 
voiced  by  the  United  States  in  its  early  recognition  of 
the  Chinese  Republic,  and  in  its  withdrawal  from  the 
Sextuple  Loan  unfairly  conceived  and  callously  carried 
out.  Note  the  two  reasons  given  by  the  head  of  the 
American  Nation  for  interest  in  China. 

Firsty  the  Government  of  the  strongest  Republic  in  the 
world  recognizes  qualities  of  worth  in  the  Chinese  which 
make  it  desire  to  do  everything  suggested  by  good  judg- 
ment and  brotherliness  to  help  the  youngest  and  largest 
Republic  in  the  world. 

Secondy  President  Wilson  is  deeply  impressed  with  the 
fact  of  the  Chinese  coming  into  **  a  consciousness  of  their 
possibilities  under  free  government."  Like  other  dis- 
cerning students  of  China,  he  intimates  that  the  Chinese 
have  never  been  moribund.  In  fact  they  have  always  been 
very  much  alive.     And  this  movement  of  theirs  is  not  a 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     25 

risiDg  from  the  dead,  but  rather  ^^an  awakening,"  an 
awakening  accompanied  by  a  right-about-face  and  "a 
transfer  of  attention'^  from  the  past,  in  custom  and  life, 
to  the  present ;  from  the  theoretical  to  the  practical ; 
from  themselves  to  the  world — a  change  in  conception  as 
to  what  constitutes  national  greatness. 

Many  experts  qualified  to  pass  judgment  are  certain 
that  the  **  Eudder  of  Asia  "  ultimately  will  not  be  Japan. 
In  confirmation  of  this  belief,  rooted  among  those  who 
know  the  Far  East,  stand  certain  basic  considerations, 
inherent  in  China  and  the  Chinese — their  history,  their 
land,  and  their  race-traits.  These  are  calculated  to  win 
for  the  young  Eepublic  and  its  people  the  interest  and 
respect  of  every  man  alive  to  momentous  affairs  of  world- 
wide significance. 

China  is  the  oldest  of  existing  States,  the  only  one  that 
has  witnessed  the  rise  and  eclipse  of  the  ancient  empires 
of  the  Valleys  of  the  Nile  and  Euphrates.  *'She  was  a 
great  monarchy  ages  before  the  foundation  of  the  Eternal 
City,  and  she  was  the  most  powerful  Organization  in  the 
world  (though  the  West  knew  it  not)  during  the  centuries 
of  Eome^s  decay ;  ^^  and  she  has  witnessed  the  earliest 
feeble  beginnings  of  all  existing  Governments — and  she 
is  still  with  us.  '^  From  the  obscurity  of  China's  Golden 
Age,  nearly  3000  B.  c,  when,  her  classics  tell  us,  'all 
men  were  good  and  doors  required  no  bars, '  we  trace  her 
story  through  the  stirring  times  when  valour  in  war 
pushed  her  conquests  eastward  to  Japan  and  westward 
subdued  the  warlike  Ghorkas;''  on  down  to  the  very 
days  of  the  last  great  woman  ruler  who  seated  and  un- 
seated sovereigns  at  pleasure,  and  who  finally  placed  a 
baby  emperor,  the  last,  on  the  world's  greatest  throne. 
It  is  indeed  something  to  have  seen  Egypt  emerge, 
Babylon  fall,  Nineveh  destroyed  and  Greece  crumble. 
And  the  world  to-day  is  being  forced  to  consider  the 


26  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

significance  of  this  unique,  unbroken  life  from  hoary 
antiquity.  Of  ancient  contemporaries  all  have  long  since 
vanished  into  mournful  oblivion,  save  only  the  Jews  j 
and  they  as  a  race  have  lost  their  language,  their  land 
and  national  existence,  while  the  Chinese  still  possess 
theirs. 

Not  only  is  China's  longevity  unique  ;  but  the  quality 
and  nature  of  the  culture  of  this  long  life  is  also  unique 
and  interest-compelling.  The  high  state  of  civilization 
to  which  the  Chinese  had  attained,  its  solidity  and  di- 
versity, when  the  West  was  still  weltering  in  savagery, 
may  well  afford  food  for  thought.  When  the  early  in- 
habitants of  Ireland,  clad  in  coats  of  blue  paint,  were 
eating  raw  fish,  refined  Chinese  poets  were  composing 
exquisite  odes,  still  extant,  on  "The  Brevity  of  Life.'' 
When  our  Scotch  ancestors  dwelt  in  caves  and  gnawed 
flesh  off  the  bones  of  wild  animals,  China  was  filled  with 
a  vast  network  of  walled  cities,  administrative  centres 
of  empire.  These  cities  were  ruled  in  accord  with  written 
and  codified  laws,  were  seats  of  learning  where  youths 
were  prepared  for  public  office  through  civil  service  ex- 
aminations. When  the  early  dwellers  in  England  were 
dragging  captives  of  war  into  the  dark  recesses  of  their 
oak  groves,  and,  with  fearful  Druidic  rites,  were  offering 
them  up  to  their  bloodthirsty  gods,  Chinese  emperors 
were  offering  prayers  of  singular  purity  and  majesty  to 
Shaug  Ti,  Lord  of  Heaven,  the  One  True  God. 

When  the  Goths  were  sallying  forth  on  fierce  forays  in 
the  gloom  of  primeval  forests,  and  observing  generally 
the  law  of  tooth  and  ravin,  Chinese  rulers  were  extend- 
ing the  study  of  the  classics,  encouraging  agriculture  and 
fathering  the  people.  And  when  our  Norse  ancestors 
(who  conceived  of  their  Heaven,  Yalhalla,  as  a  huge 
slaughter  house)  were  with  battle  axes  splitting  open  the 
Leads  of  their  enemies  and  drinking  their  blood  hot  from 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     27 

their  skulls — tearing  each  other  like  dragons  of  the  prime 
— then  Chinese  students,  seated  in  great  libraries,  were 
studying  their  own  ancient  history,  Chinese  literati  were 
writing  essays  flawless  in  form,  Chinese  philosophers 
were  moralizing  on  the  Princely  Manner  of  Man  ;  and  an 
army  of  Chinese  scholars  in  quiet  cloisters  were,  at  the 
command  of  a  great  emperor,  making  a  cyclopedia  of 
human  knowledge  that  filled  hundreds  of  tomes. 

Long  before  our  Teutonic  fathers,  clad  in  skins  of  wild 
beasts,  and  wielding  stone  axes  and  sliding  on  their 
shields  down  the  snow-clad  slopes  of  the  Italian  Alps  to 
loot  and  plunder  and  ravish  and  decimate  fair  Italy, 
ruthlessly  destroying  the  choicest  that  she  had  gathered 
of  the  ancient  civilization  of  Greece  and  Eome — ages  be- 
fore that,  princely  Chinese  merchants,  dressed  in  flowing 
robes  of  brocaded  silk  and  satins  of  fine  texture  and  delicate 
shades,  were  sending  their  caravans  across  Asia  westward 
to  trade  with  ancient  Eome.  And  in  their  palaces  were 
costly  cloisonne,  with  a  bewildering  variety  of  potteries 
and  porcelains ;  also  precious  inlaid  and  lacquered  furni- 
ture and  exquisitely  delicate  paintings  ;  and  their  gardens 
were  full  of  exotic  plants,  trees  and  shrubbery,  with 
many  varieties  of  flowers.  To  acquire  samples  of  this 
ancient  art,  great  collectors,  like  Morgan  and  Frick,  and 
Government  Museums,  are  glad  now  to  pay  large  sums. 

When  Moses  led  the  Israelites  through  the  Wilderness, 
Chinese  laws  and  literature  and  religious  knowledge  ex- 
celled that  of  Egypt.  A  hundred  years  before  the  North 
Wind  rippled  over  the  harp  of  David,  Wung  Wang,  an 
Emperor  of  China,  composed  classics  which  are  com- 
mitted to  memory  to  this  day  by  every  advanced  scholar 
of  the  land.  When  Homer  was  composing  and  singing 
the  Iliad,  China's  blind  minstrels  were  celebrating  her 
ancient  heroes,  whose  tombs  had  already  been  with  them 
through  thirteen  centuries.     Her  literature  was  fully  de- 


28  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

veloped  before  England  was  invaded  by  the  Norman 
conquerors. 

Even  in  far-off  West  China  a  vast  and  elaborate  civiliza- 
tion had  been  developed.  Though  isolated  for  a  thou- 
sand years,  with  Thibet  shutting  it  off  on  one  side  and 
the  Yangtse  gorges  disputing  the  way  from  the  east,  the 
trade  from  Europe  nevertheless  once  passed  that  way. 
It  was  the  "land  of  Sinim  "  known  to  the  Eomans,  the 
China  knit  with  the  Koman  West  by  the  great  land  route 
over  the  highlands  of  central  Asia  before  ever  a  European 
keel  had  plowed  the  Yellow  Sea. 

And  what  China^s  great  and  ancient  walled  cities  have 
been  and  may  become  is  hinted  at  in  the  following  facts. 
A  seventeen-year-old  boy  from  Venice,  Marco  Polo  by 
name,  entered  China  in  1270  A.  D.,  by  way  of  Chengtu, 
the  capital  of  Szechuan.  He  called  it  "  a  rich  and  noble 
city."  It  was  two  hundred  miles  from  Thibet,  as  near  to 
the  Bay  of  Bengal  as  to  the  China  Sea,  which  is  nearly 
two  thousand  miles  to  the  eastward.  But  he  found  paved 
streets  there,  in  a  day  when  Paris  was  a  swamp  and  Lon- 
don a  mud-hole.  This  far  inland  city  of  half  a  million, 
nearly  as  remote  from  the  Yellow  Sea  to  the  north  as 
St.  Paul  is  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  cut  off  moreover 
by  the  terrible  rapids  and  whirlpools  in  the  gorges  of  the 
Yangtse  Eiver,  has  recently  and  with  astonishing  avidity 
appropriated  a  vast  deal  of  Western  culture.  Seven  days 
on  a  houseboat  through  the  Yangtse  gorges  and  fourteen 
days  in  a  sedan  chair  brings  one  over  the  century-old 
stone-paved  road  from  Wan  Hsien  into  the  beautifully 
located  and  beautifully  built  Chengtu,  exceptionally  clean 
and  boasting  a  fine  city-water  system  and  electric  lights  j 
streets  well  paved  and  adequately  policed,  full  of  impress- 
ive Government  buildings  and  modern  schools. 

To  the  world's  progress  the  Chinese  early  contributed 
their  share,  though  they  still  have  much  more  to  give. 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     29 

It  is  appalling  to  think  what  the  world  would  be  with- 
out paper.  The  Chinese  made  it  during  the  period  of 
the  Minor  Prophets.  More  appalling  still  is  it  to  think 
what  the  world  would  be  witliout  the  printed  page.  The 
Chinese  invented  the  art  of  printing  five  hundred  years 
before  Caxton  was  born  (1421-1491).  They  were  making 
books  in  large  numbers  centuries  before  Dr.  Faustus 
(1485-1540)  played  with  his  wooden  blocks;  indeed  be- 
fore the  English  language  was  in  existence.  Admiral 
Mahan  used  to  say  that  oceans  were  the  principal  means 
of  uniting  races  and  disseminating  culture.  In  view  of 
that  statement  it  is  significant  that  the  Chinese  invented 
the  mariner^  s  compass,  necessary  precursor  of  steam  and 
electricity  ;  and  when  the  forebears  of  the  British  Ad- 
miralty, in  willow- woven  canoes,  were  hugging  the  shore- 
line of  Albion,  the  Chinese,  by  the  use  of  this  instrument, 
were,  in  big  junks,  putting  straight  out  to  the  open  sea. 
Gunpowder,  which  has  revolutionized  all  military  and 
naval  science,  was  first  compounded  by  the  Chinese  and 
used  before  the  coming  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  ;  and  they 
invented  firearms  as  early  as  the  reign  of  England^s 
First  Edward  (1239-1307)  and  were  using  them  efifectively 
long  before  the  last  great  Mohammedan  conqueror,  in 
1453,  shot  down  the  gates  and  walls  of  Byzantium. 

They  developed  and  raised  to  a  high  standard  silk 
and  tea  and  cotton  culture,  vastly  utilizing  them.  They 
were  pioneers  in  the  manufacture  of  exquisite  and  dainty 
art-works  in  porcelain  and  silk  and  brass,  enamel  and 
glazed  ware,  which  have  made  not  only  her  own,  but  the 
wares  of  Korea  and  Japan,  who  learned  from  her,  famous 
the  world  over.  The  Great  Wall  and  the  Grand  Canal 
are  striking  evidences  of  the  engineering  skill  and  prac- 
tical enterprise  of  the  ancient  Chinese.  The  former  was 
built  to  keep  out  the  Mongol  and  Tartar  hordes  of  the 
North  ;  the  latter  to  bind  the  capital  with  the  whole  realm 


30  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

by  a  cheap  and  safe  inland  route  along  which  the  tribute 
could  be  forwarded.  The  Wall  ran  along  the  crest  of  the 
mountains  for  1,728  miles.  The  Canal  ran  through  the 
Continent  from  Peking  to  Canton.  More  men  laboured 
at  one  time  in  the  construction  of  these  vast  works  than 
can  be  mustered  in  each  of  many  other  nations.  The 
Great  Wall,  General  Grant  said,  dwarfed  any  other  build- 
iug  feat  upon  the  planet.  It  contains  enough  material  to 
build  a  barrier  six  feet  high  and  a  yard  wide  around  the 
globe  at  the  Equator.  The  Grand  Canal  is  the  first  of  its 
kind  in  the  magnitude  and  difficulties  of  the  undertak- 
ing. And  the  point  of  interest  in  each  for  the  modern 
world  is  that  ever  since  their  construction  they  have  been 
monumental  suggestors  to  man  both  of  defense  and  of  in- 
land water  traffic. 

**The  principles  of  what  is  now  being  taught  in  the 
West  as  scientific  agriculture  lie  in  the  *  Chow  Cere- 
monial^ (a  book  written  3,000  years  ago),  which  dis- 
cusses the  methods  of  transforming  soil,  silk  culture, 
cotton  selections,  utilization  of  waste,  etc.^'  "Ages  ago, 
as  to-day,  the  Chinese  were  the  most  skillful  agricultur- 
alists and  irrigators  and  cooks.  They  dug  salt  wells 
8,000  feet  deep  centuries  before  Solomon  was  born.  / 
They  had  civil  service  examinations  for  office  ages  before 
Abraham  received  the  blessing  from  Melchisedek." 

They  have  many  rivers  in  West  China  but  few  floods. 
Twenty-one  centuries  ago  a  son  of  Szechuan  built  a  mov- 
able dam  across  the  river  Min,  which  absolutely  controls 
the  flood  waters  and  diverts  them  to  irrigation.  That 
dam  is  one  of  the  engineering  wonders  of  the  world.  In 
vast  sections,  as  in  Szechuan  Province,  not  a  drop  of 
water  goes  to  waste.  Every  river  which  flows  into  the 
Chengtu  Plain  from  the  snowy  highlands  of  Thibet  is 
skillfully  caught  and  harnessed  to  the  work  of  irrigation. 
These  terraced  puddy  fields  are  hundreds  of  years  old. 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     31 

They  never  are  allowed  to  fall  into  disrepair.  The  irri- 
gation system  of  West  China  is  an  example  of  engineer- 
ing skill  comparable  to  the  Dykes  of  Holland.  The  rich- 
ness of  the  soil,  the  warmth  of  the  climate,  the  abundance 
of  water  and  the  indefatigable  industry  of  the  people, 
combine  to  give  West  China  several  crops  a  year. 

In  this  day  and  age  of  senseless  extravagance  in  the 
Western  World,  the  lesson  of  frugality,  which  the  Chinese 
can  teach,  ought  not  to  pass  unnoticed.  It  is  a  real  con- 
tribution to  modern  civilization.  Frugality  is  an  age- 
long Chinese  virtue — nothing  can  go  to  waste.  The 
Chinese  use  four  hundred  and  seventy-eight  different 
plants  for  food.  They  have  to ;  because  in  Szechuan, 
with  only  the  area  of  France,  they  have  twice  the  popu- 
lation. 

One  of  the  roots  of  this  world-war  is  the  privileged 
military  aristocracy  of  Europe.  Had  there  not  been  this 
well-organized  and  highly  developed  and  all-powerful 
militaristic  caste  on  the  Continent  to-day,  who  can  say 
that  this  conflict,  as  gigantic  as  excuseless,  would  have 
been  ^ irrepressible^'  ?  In  China  Shih  Huang  Ti,  a  great 
ruler  who  preceded  the  Hsia,  Shang,  Chow,  Tsin,  Han, 
Tang,  Sung,  Yuan,  Ming  and  Tsing  Dynasties — one  of 
which  alone  had  thirty-five  sovereigns — this  Emperor, 
seeing  the  evil  of  such  feudalism,  parent  of  the  system 
existing  in  Europe  to-day,  abolished  it.  In  Europe  to^ 
day  there  are  classes  of  privilege  into  which  a  man  can^ 
not  break.  That  condition  has  not  obtained  in  China  foi 
centuries.  According  to  her  ancient  system,  the  veriest 
peasant  boy  was  eligible,  through  dint  of  hard  study, 
and  by  passing  the  graded  examinations,  for  the  most 
coveted  viceroyship  of  the  land. 

It  is  interesting  to  see  this  fact  set  forth  from  the  view^ 
point  of  a  talented  Chinese  leader.  He  says:  '* Since 
the  fall  of  feudalism  with  the  destruction  of  the  Choa 


33  CHINA  FKOM  WxiHlN 

Empire,  the  people  of  China  have  remained  essentially  a 
free  democracy — where  all  good  and  talented  men  are 
equal  in  every  respect.  Every  man,  whatever  his  rank 
in  society  or  his  wealth  or  his  poverty,  had  always  the 
same  opportunities  and  could,  by  his  abilities,  rise  to  the 
highest  rung  of  the  social  ladder.  lifot  only  have  there 
been  no  caste  distinctions,  but  also  no  class  barriers.  In 
this  respect,  we  Chinese  have  a  social  order,  as  regards 
its  humanity  and  democratic  spirit,  perhaps  equal  if  not 
superior  to  that  of  the  most  developed  and  free  country 
in  the  West.  For  these  reasons,  the  officers  under  the 
successive  empires  of  the  past  had  always  been  obliged 
to  govern  through  the  local  social  headmen  of  the  pro- 
vincial communities,  whose  rights  were  further  attended 
to  by  special  guilds  and  societies." 

The  whole  weight  of  China's  ancient  system  has  been 
against  war.  Its  people  are  not  only  the  most  enduring, 
but  most  peaceful  of  all  ages.  Though  it  has  fought  and 
conquered  many  times,  it  has  never  looked  upon  itself  as 
a  laud  and  a  race  of  warriors.  Whereas  the  scholar,  as 
the  framer  of  the  ideals  of  the  nation,  was  put  highest  in 
the  social  scale  ;  and  the  farmer,  as  the  honourable  pro- 
ducer of  the  means  of  life,  was  put  second  ;  the  soldier- 
class,  alone  in  China  of  all  nations,  ancient  or  modern, 
was  put  lowest — his  trade  being  that  of  destruction. 
Who  can  estimate  the  weight  of  China  for  world -peace, 
when  she  shall  speak  with  the  might  of  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions of  enlightened  citizens  trained  against  the  thought 
of  war  as  the  conventional  way  of  settling  international 
disputes  ?  Is  it  worth  nothing  to  the  world  to-day — this 
age-long  custom  of  the  Chinese  with  regard  to  differences 
of  opinion?  Their  method  is  to  secure  a  middleman, 
and  talk  it  out,  each  side  conceding  something  in  order 
to  a  settlement  that  obviates  mutilation  and  destruction 
of  the  temples  of  the  Eternal  Spirit. 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     33 

Given  Cliiua's  institutions  and  traditions,  with  her  con- 
sequent attitude  towards  the  repulsiveness  of  butchering 
men  as  a  method  of  determining  opposing  view-points, 
it  is  not  strange  that  the  authorities  of  the  Eepublic  did 
what  may  have  seemed  to  the  world  at  large  an  incon- 
gruous thing.  The  Government  of  a  heathen  nation 
issued  a  call  for  its  officials  to  meet  with  Chinese  Chris- 
tians— for  what  ?  To  pray  for  *  ^  Christian  ^ '  Europe  reek- 
ing in  its  men-shambles ;  to  pray  that  its  war,  conceived 
in  iniquity,  and  the  most  gigantic  of  history,  might 
cease  ;  and  that  peace  might  once  more  prevail  upon  the 
earth  !  This  episode  deserves  more  than  passing  notice. 
It  is  the  second  time  that  the  officials  of  the  Chinese  Ee- 
public have  called  upon  the  Christian  churches  in  the 
land  for  a  season  of  special  prayer.  On  April  27,  1913, 
prayer  was  sought  for  China  ;  to-day  it  is  for  those  suffer- 
ing from  the  terrible  war  in  Europe.  By  the  advice  or 
invitation  of  President  Yuan  Shi  Kai,  Sunday,  October 
18,  1914,  was  set  aside  as  such  a  day  of  prayer  for 
Europe,  and  representatives  of  the  Eepublic  were  pres- 
ent at  many  of  the  services  in  every  section  of  the  land. 
In  Amoy,  for  instance,  there  were  present  the  Taotai 
Wang  Shou  Chen  ;  the  Su-beng  Magistrate,  Lai  Ju  Lin  ; 
also  Hsin  Kuei  Fang,  the  second  in  command  of  the 
Amoy  Forts ;  Wang  Ch'en  Chang,  Chief  of  Police ;  and 
Chen  Ugen  Tao,  Diplomatic  Officer  of  Amoy.  The 
Taotai  spoke  in  part  as  follows  : 

*'  We  meet  here  this  afternoon  to  pray  for  peace,  and 
I  am  exceedingly  glad  to  have  a  part  in  these  exercises. 
As  I  see  it  there  is  not  a  man  that  does  not  desire  happi- 
ness— not  a  man  that  does  not  desire  to  see  peace  reign- 
ing everywhere  throughout  the  world.  This  war,  the 
result  of  militarism,  has  torn  the  world  to  pieces.  The 
President  of  the  United  States  tried  his  best  to  act  as 
peacemaker,  but  adverse  forces  were  too  strong.     And 


34  CHINA  FKOM  WITHIN 

now,  man  having  reached  the  limit  of  his  resources,  we 
come  to  pray /or  help  from  Reaven. 

**  The  Book  of  Odes  tells  us  that  the  great  God  rules 
all  under  Heaven,  and  with  splendid  power  influences 
the  nations  of  the  world  for  peace.  The  Historical 
Classic  says  :  '  Heaven  pities  the  people  and  most  cer- 
tainly hears  their  cry  in  time  of  need. '  Heaven  does  not 
want  strife,  and  will  assuredly  understand  your  pur- 
pose. Washington  was  a  man  of  prayer  and  in  the  time 
of  the  Kevolution  a  portion  of  every  day  was  spent  in 
prayer.  Lincoln  also,  during  the  civil  war  in  America, 
spent  much  time  in  prayer,  and  at  such  a  time  as  the 
present  we  do  well  to  remember  his  words  and  manner 
of  prayer.  He  did  not  pray  especially  for  the  success  of 
his  own  armies — not  that  his  soldiers  might  prove  vic- 
torious,— but  that  war  might  cease  and  the  world  be  at 
peace. 

^'Eecently  President  Wilson  called  for  a  day  of  uni- 
versal prayer  in  behalf  of  the  struggle  in  Europe  j  we 
are  thus  but  following  his  example  in  meeting  here  this 
afternoon  to  pray  that  war  may  cease  and  universal 
peace  be  established  throughout  the  entire  world.  And 
so  to-day  unitedly  and  with  one  voice  in  unison  with 
this  whole  nation,  we  lift  our  hearts  in  prayer.  God 
is  not  afar  off.  He  is  at  all  times  near — in  reciprocal 
relation — and  so  will  hear  and  bestow  peace  in  answer 
to  prayer — prayer  of  unbounded,  unlimited  power." 

Much  has  been  said  about  Confucianism  being  adopted 
as  the  religion  of  the  Eepublic;  but  such  spectacles 
seem  far  from  proving  it.  However,  it  is  to  be  remem- 
bered that  the  leaders  who  speak  thus  are  but  as  a  drop 
in  the  pond,  compared  with  the  vast  masses  who  grovel 
in  superstition. 

The  citizens  of  democracies  and  republics  are  usually 
against  war  per  se.     And  men  in  monarchies  who  are 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     35 

masters  of  themselves,  not  subject  as  henchmen  to  the 
sudden  caprice  and  irresponsible  mandate  of  an  over- 
lord living  by  pillage  and  violence,  have  also  been 
against  that  method  of  settling  disputes.  Such  men  are 
apt  to  possess  their  own  hard-earned  and  carefully  kept 
property.  And  such  small  landholders  are  the  vast 
mass  of  Chinese  folk.  At  first  sight  it  is  an  astonishing 
fact  that,  in  the  most  ancient  and  despotic  of  empires, 
the  Chinese  have  long  been  a  democratic  people.  The 
world  hardly  realizes  that  theirs  has  been  a  nominal  ab- 
solutism, an  autocracy  not  like  the  Russian  or  Prussian 
but  superimposed  as  an  extraneous  thing — superimposed 
because  the  people  have  long  determined  how  much  they 
would  tolerate  in  rulers  and  what  taxes  they  would  pay 
— which  fact  the  officials  have  known  only  too  well,  care- 
fully observing  the  limit.  The  Eei^ublican  form  of 
government,  i.  e.,  rule  by  chosen  representatives,  ap- 
peals instinctively  to  the  Chinese. 

How  this  can  be  so,  contrary  to  the  Western  concep- 
tion of  the  Celestial,  is  explained  by  a  distinguished 
Southern  Chinaman,  Lun  Boon  Kang,  in  his  English  lec- 
ture, "The  Spirit  of  Independence,^^  delivered  in  Jan- 
uary, 1913. 

"Despite  appearances  to  the  contrary,  the  Chinese 
have  for  two  thousand  years  maintained,  under  every 
disadvantage  and  discouragement,  a  spirit  of  personal 
and  communal  independence,  which  compares  favour- 
ably even  with  the  so-called  liberty  in  the  freest  states 
of  the  West.  What  though  a  despot  sat  on  the  dragon 
throne — theoretically  with  autocratic  powers,  neither  Im- 
perial nor  provincial  authorities  could  touch  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  the  people  in  their  towns,  villages  or 
homes. 

"Historically  we  may  trace  the  formation  of  this  na- 
tional character  to  the  warring  times  at  the  end  of  the 


86  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

great  Chou  Dynasty — which  succumbed  to  the  meteoric 
genius  of  the  T'sin  Emperor.  The  period  of  the  Han 
restored  the  Confucian  principles  which  T'sin  Shih. 
hwangti  endeavoured  to  obliterate  in  Chinese  writing  by 
the  infamous  burning  of  books.  During  the  subsequent 
rise  and  fall  of  the  ruling  power  in  successive  periods, 
the  Confucian  precepts  concerning  the  rights  of  the 
people  have  never  been  disputed — the  Emperors  of  each 
successive  dynasty  having  undertaken  to  conform  to  an- 
cient usages,  and  to  be  the  protectors  of  the  liberties  of 
the  people.  In  fact,  from  the  founder  of  the  Han,  down 
to  the  last  regent  of  the  Ching,  each  Chinese  ruler  had 
always  admitted  that  he  was  only  the  servant  of  the 
people — whose  sufferings  were  due  to  his  misgovern- 
ment,  and  whose  prosperity  was  his  greatest  joy.  This 
had  ever  been  the  theoretical  profession,  although  in 
actual  practice  both  Emperors  and  their  ofiicers  often 
acted  regardless  of  their  duties  or  their  promises.  The 
people,  however,  submitted  to  an  Imperial  regime  from 
age  to  age,  because  their  domestic  and  provisional  rights 
were  never  tampered  with." 

In  further  elucidation  of  this  political  phenomenon,  he 
adds:  ^*So  long  as  democracy  was  merely  contented  to 
suffer  the  Imperial  Government  to  remain  as  the  cheapest 
and  easiest  way  of  maintaining  the  national  life,  on  con- 
dition that  the  liberties  of  the  people  were  not  encroached 
upon,  the  Ch'iug  Government  continued  apparently  to 
exercise  almost  despotic  powers.  But  foreign  nations 
soon  learned  that  Peking  could  not  influence  provincial 
centres,  and  that  treaties  made  with  the  Central  Govern- 
ment remained  ineffective  until  the  people  could  be 
coerced  by  force  to  observe  them.  But  the  preaching 
of  the  principles  of  Republicanism  gave  the  democracy 
of  China  a  definite  policy,  a  common  aim,  and  a  satis- 
factory means  of  solving  the  Manchu  difficulty  as  well  aa 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     37 

maintainiug  the  integrity  of  the  immense  national  terri- 
tory. After  fifteen  years  of  indefatigable  labours,  Dr.  Sun 
Yat  Sen  succeeded  in  founding  foci  of  republican  thinkers 
all  over  the  world  where  Chinese  had  colonized,  as  well 
as  in  every  provincial  city  throughout  the  Oh'ing  Empire. 
He  thus  incurred  the  implacable  hatred  of  the  Manchus, 
and  it  seems  miraculous  he  ever  lived  to  be  the  first 
president  of  the  first  true  republic  of  Asia,  if  we  take 
into  consideration  the  enormous  prize  for  his  head  offered 
by  the  Manchu  court,  the  number  of  assassins  paid  to 
trace  his  footsteps,  and  the  attempt  to  kidnap  him  even 
in  London.  The  fact  that  he  could  move  safely  in  dense 
centres  of  Chinese  population  during  all  this  time,  visit- 
ing China  herself  surreptitiously  in  these  years,  is  the 
most  solid  proof  of  the  democratic  ideas  of  the  people." 

Thus  a  flood  of  light  is  thrown  on  the  fact  that  when 
our  ancestors  in  the  black  forests  of  Germany  as  yet  knew 
nothing  of  the  Witenagemote,  that  council  of  elders 
elected  by  freemen  (the  boasted  beginning  of  our  town- 
meetings  and  of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom) — ages  ago,  the 
Chinese,  inherent  and  instinctive  democrats,  were,  as 
unto  this  day,  governing  their  villages  by  the  system  of 
ruling  elders  chosen  from  responsible  families.  Indeed 
Professor  Giles,  in  his  ^*  Civilization  of  China, '^  affirms 
that,  **  China,  aside  from  all  considerations  of  the  form 
of  its  government,  has  for  centuries  been,  and  still  in- 
trinsically is,  by  virtue  of  the  nature  of  its  village 
organization,  the  greatest  rei)ublic  the  world  has  ever 
seen."  And  Dr.  A.  H.  Smith  is  not  alone  in  believing 
that  in  consonance  with  this  system  :  "  It  is  very  possible 
that  China  will  become  the  greatest  structure,  politically 
as  well  as  socially,  ever  erected  on  the  face  of  the  earth. " 

China  lies  in  what  Gladstone  called  ^Hhe  zones  of 
power,"  in  which  the  most  masterful  races  have  operated. 
Extending  from  the  eighteenth  parallel  of  latitude  north- 


38  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

ward  to  the  fifty-fourth  (as  if  from  Guatemala  to  Labrador) 
this  country  has  every  variety  of  climate  from  the  semi- 
arctic  of  the  highlands  to  the  semi-tropical  heat  of  the 
Malay  Peninsula.  Exclusive  of  Western  Turkestan, 
Anam,  Cochin  China,  Formosa  and  Korea — all  recently 
filched  away  before  China  began  to  rouse  to  the  animus 
of  foreigners— ^^  the  term,  taken  in  its  widest  sense,"  says 
Professor  Giles,  ^  includes  Mongolia,  Manchuria,  Eastern 
Turkestan,  Thibet  and  the  Eighteen  Provinces,  the  whole 
equivalent  to  some  five  million  square  miles  ;  ^.  e.,  con- 
siderably more  than  twice  the  size  of  the  United  States, 
forty-seven  times  that  of  Great  Britain,  forty  times  that 
of  Germany  or  France,  one-tenth  of  the  habitable  globe, 
one  and  one-half  the  size  of  Europe.  The  Eighteen 
Provinces  proper  occupy  not  quite  two-fifths  of  the 
whole,  covering  1,532,420  square  miles,  about  as  large 
as  that  part  of  the  United  States  lying  east  of  the 
Mississippi  Eiver.  Their  chief  landmarks  are  Peking, 
the  capital  of  the  north ;  Canton,  the  great  commercial 
centre  In  the  south ;  Shanghai  on  the  east,  and  the 
Thibetan  frontier  on  the  west.  Of  the  Eighteen  Prov- 
inces proper  only  five  are  smaller  than  Ed  gland  and 
Wales  combined."  The  four  additional  outlying  do- 
minions, already  ear-marked  by  England,  Russia  and 
Japan,  are,  as  hinted  above,  larger  than  all  the  provinces 
combined. 

When  one  reaches  Shanghai  from  New  York  he  is,  in 
regard  to  time,  just  half-way  to  what  is  understood  to 
be  distinctly  *^West  China.''  Lay  China  over  North 
America,  with  Shanghai  on  New  York  and  Canton  on 
Mobile,  then,  roughly  speaking,  Chengtu,  the  capital 
of  West  China,  would  lie  near  Kansas  City.  Imagine 
the  entire  population  of  the  United  States  and  Canada 
crowded  into  Tennessee,  Mississippi,  Missouri,  Arkansas, 
Oklahoma,  Nebraska  and  Iowa.     That  is  West  China, 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     39 

an  unknown  land  as  yet,  with  a  population  of  over  one 
hundred  million. 

As  over  against  this  plethora  of  human  beings  con- 
gested in  relatively  small  space,  it  is  especially  interesting 
now,  when  in  Europe  *' manifest  destiny  "  and  **  necessity 
for  more  territory  "  are  deluging  the  world  with  blood — 
to  consider  the  extensive  unexplored  sections  of  China, 
waiting  for  any  possible  overflow  of  population  to  de- 
velop them.  No  need  for  the  Chinese  to  seek  an  East 
Africa  or  a  Brazil,  a  Canada  or  an  Australia.  They  are 
at  their  door.  There  are  vast  regions  in  Eastern  Mongolia 
and  a  noble  heritage  in  Manchuria  which  could  easily 
support  one  hundred  million  people  instead  of  less  than 
twenty,  as  at  present ;  while  exporting  much  grain,  beans 
and  other  food  stuff  as  well.  North  of  Harbin  China 
possesses  about  300,000  square  miles  of  territory  of  which 
not  one- tenth  is  under  cultivation.  East  and  northeast 
of  Harbin  lies  a  magnificent  tract  of  laud  containing  over 
100,000  square  miles  of  plains  and  hills,  most  of  which 
might  be  cultivated. 

The  Eighteen  Provinces  have  some  six  hundred  million 
acres  of  splendid  soil  for  agriculture.  In  this  respect,  as 
in  natural  resources  and  opportunities,  experts  agree 
that  China  is  the  only  real  rival  of  the  United  States  in 
all  the  world. 

Mr.  E.  S.  Little,  one  of  the  most  able  and  authoritative 
geographers  of  China,  who  has  travelled  for  many  years 
in  all  parts  of  the  land  charting  its  elevations  and  noting 
its  agricultural  and  mining  possibilities,  returned  Sep- 
tember 23,  1913,  from  the  Amur  region,  bringing  a 
specially  prepared  map  with  him.  He  says  that  the 
revelation  of  the  country  and  its  possibilities  came  to 
him  "as  a  shock. '^  Here  is  one  paragraph  from  his  re- 
port: 

"The  bulk  of  the  Chinese  have  probably  never  heard 


40  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

of  the  province  at  all,  and  foreigners  have  had  such  a 
hazy  impression  of  it  that  they  were  discouraged  from 
any  sort  of  investigation  ;  yet  actually  it  is  of  absorbing 
interest  both  politically  and  commercially.  The  river 
Amur  is  navigable  for  more  than  two  thousand  miles 
from  the  sea,  and  is  fed  by  great  numbers  of  smaller 
navigable  arteries,  the  total  length  of  water  being  esti- 
mated at  42,000  miles. 

"The  great  plains  are  covered  with  a  grass  which  could 
support  millions  of  cattle,  and  the  land  could  produce 
cereals  in  vast  abundance.  There  are  rich  deposits  of 
all  kinds  of  metals  and  minerals— as  vast  as  yet  virgin. 
The  forests  are  so  extensive  that  one  expert  told  me  that 
eight  to  ten  million  fine  trees  could  be  cut  out  every  year 
for  hundreds  of  years  without  in  any  way  destroying  the 
existence  or  the  usefulness  of  the  forests.  The  rivers 
were  so  stocked  that  they  promise  rich  harvests  for  any 
one  working  them.^' 

This  is  typical  of  many  other  sections  practically  un- 
known to  the  outside  world — new  lands  of  China  waiting 
to  be  discovered  and  settled  by  its  own  people.  And 
this  fact  has  i)ractical  bearing  on  this  world  cataclysm. 
Gladstone  once  propounded  and  proved  a  famous  thesis : 
"  No  nation  can  remain  permanently  great  that  does  not 
have  an  adequate  physical  basis  of  empire."  For  lack 
of  it,  European  nations  plead  the  necessity  of  their  vast 
seizures  all  over  the  globe.  For  lack  of  it  some  of  the 
parties  to  this  war  justify  their  participation  in  it,  as 
well  as  their  earlier  engaging,  each,  in  several  other  wars. 
China  already  has  the  physical  basis. 

China's  natural  resources  are  staggering  in  their  vast- 
ness — practically  untouched,  unparallelled,  incalculable. 
Professor  N.  S.  Shaler  in  a  notable  article  in  The  Interna- 
tional Quarterly  on  *'The  Exhaustion  of  the  World's 
Supply  of  Iron  and  Copper,''  lays  down  the  thesis  that 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     41 

these  are  "  the  mainstays  of  our  existing  civilization." 
And  of  these  two  "iron  is  the  prime  metal  of  civiliza- 
tion." He  shows  that  in  Europe  the  iron  fields  ^*  are  be- 
ginning to  be  exhausted."  Great  Britain  has  practically 
consumed  its  store,  which  a  century  ago  seemed  ample. 
All  American  iron  fields  have  been  noted  and  marked 
out;  no  new  discoveries  need  be  expected.  In  China, 
however,  coal  and  iron  occur  widely  and  together^  a  most 
valuable  combination.  Conditions  of  climate  and  labour 
are  also  favourable. 

*' China's  combination  of  resources  makes  the  struggle 
of  England  and  Germany,  of  Japan  and  Eussia,  for  as- 
cendancy in  China  to  take  on  world  meaning ;  for  on  that 
control  depends  in  large  measure  the  economic  mastery 
of  the  Pacific,  on  whose  rim  dwell  over  one-half  the 
population  of  the  globe. " 

And  what  are  these  mineral  resources?  He  says; 
*^  The  astonishing  fact  is  that  almost  every  province  has 
a  rich  and  varied  store  of  civilization's  necessities — im- 
mense deposits  of  coal,  iron,  limestone,  copper,  silver, 
tin,  lead,  zinc,  gold,  gypsum,  alum,  marbles,  precious 
stones,  platinum,  nickel,  natural  gases,  nitre,  antimony, 
slates,  quicksilver,  petroleum,  manganese,  mercury, 
granites,  salt.''  How  abundant  are  these  resources  may 
be  surmised  from  the  fact  that  419,000  square  miles  are 
already  officially  reckoned  to  be  underlaid  with  coal. 
Into  these  mineral  sections  the  Chinese  Government  is 
beginning  to  construct  railroads,  opening  up  "the largest 
and  finest  coal  and  iron  mines  thus  far  known  to  man." 

"Baron  Eichofen,  the  German  expert,  after  a  laborious 
investigation  of  many  years,  submitted  to  the  German 
Government  a  three- volume  report  of  the  coal  and  iron 
resources  of  China,  showing  that  they  are  the  richest  in 
the  world.  He  found  coal  in  fifteen  of  the  eighteen 
provinces  examined  by  him ;  and  reckoned  that  six  hun- 


42  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

dred  billion  tons  of  it  are  anthracite.  And  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Shansi  he  reported  enough  coal  to  supply  the  hu- 
man race  at  the  present  rate  of  consumption  for  several 
thousand  years.  Beside  huge  beds  of  bituminous  coal, 
this  province  of  55,000  square  miles  is  estimated  to  con- 
tain no  less  than  14,000  square  miles  of  anthracite  aver- 
aging twenty- one  feet  thick.  Travellers  in  many  places 
can  see  that  coal  outcropping  on  the  roadside  j  whole 
villages  are  built  directly  upon  it  as  a  floor.  Side  by 
side  with  these  supplies  of  coal,  Baron  Richofen  found 
vast  supplies  of  iron  ore.  The  German  Government  was 
so  amazed  by  the  Baron's  report  that  an  expert  commis- 
sion was  sent  to  China  in  1897  to  reexamine  his  data, 
and  this  commission  fully  verified  Baron  Richofen's  esti- 
mate'' (Bishop  J.  W.  Bashford).  Incidentally  these 
reports  were  factors  in  sending  the  Germans  into 
Shantung. 

Geologists  report  that  the  principal  seam  in  Shansi  is 
at  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundred 
feet  above  the  flinty  limestone,  and  varies  in  thickness 
from  twelve  to  thirty  feet.  The  available  anthracite  in 
Shansi  is  estimated  at  630,000  millions  of  tons,  of  the 
same  quality  as  Pennsylvania  anthracite  ;  while  the  bitu- 
minous deposits  of  Shansi  are  still  greater  than  its  an- 
thracite. The  coal  beds  of  Szechuan  are  also  enormous, 
and  the  railway  line  being  built  from  Canton  to  Hankow 
in  the  heart  of  China,  some  eight  hundred  and  fifty  miles, 
passes  some  of  the  richest  coal  and  iron  fields  in  the 
whole  world.  Yunnan,  more  than  twice  the  size  of  Eng- 
land and  Wales,  whose  boundaries  are  coterminous  with 
the  Burin  an  frontier  for  hundreds  of  miles,  is  one  of  the 
richest  of  all  China  in  coal,  gold,  copper,  salt  and 
precious  stones. 

These  provinces  of  Szechuan  and  Yunnan,  together 
with  Kweichow,  constitute  what  is  technically  called 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     43 

"West  China.'*  Though  hoary  with  age,  they,  by  all 
the  iudications  of  their  potentialities,  belong  to  the  fu- 
ture.    The  people  are  there,  the  resources  are  there. 

"  West  China  "  is  recognized  as  the  richest  land  in  the 
world.  After  having  fed  one  hundred  million  people 
merely  by  the  intensive  cultivation  of  truck-gardening 
for  centuries,  her  fields,  which  lie  in  the  latitude  of 
Georgia  and  Florida,  produce  as  prodigally  as  ever,  two 
and  three  crops  a  year. 

As  for  mines,  no  one  dare  prophesy  their  value.  The 
mineral  wealth  of  West  China  is  practically  untouched  ; 
but  it  is  safe  to  say,  on  the  authority  of  geological  ex- 
perts, that  when  the  world's  other  stores  of  metal  are 
exhausted,  West  China  will  still  have  enough  for  all  of  us. 

Also  innumerable  cascades  flash  down  the  ravines  of 
the  extensive  mountain  chains,  utilizable,  as  in  the  case 
of  Niagara  harnessed,  for  the  production  of  the  electric 
power  that  the  industrial  age  demands.  "  Sooner  or 
later,"  says  Lord  Roualdshay,  *' the  much  needed  work- 
ing plan  will  be  found ;  and,  when  this  comes  about,  it  is 
difficult  to  see  what  is  to  prevent  China  from  becoming 
the  greatest  industrial  country  in  the  world.  .  .  .  And 
when  China  shall  have  been  changed  from  being  merely 
an  agricultural  nation,  and  have  become  also  a  manufac- 
turing nation,  through  the  well-nigh  inexhaustible  sup- 
plies of  coal  and  iron,  twin  pillars  of  modern  industry, 
who  can  measure  her  material  power  and  greatness  ?  " 

Such  physical  resources  naturally  suggest  and  make 
inevitable  wonderful  commercial  possibilities.  Not  only 
is  there  vast  potential  welfare  in  sight,  but  already  there 
is  great  wealth  in  cash,  circulating  throughout  China  in 
the  business  done  to-day.  The  world  is  somewhat  de- 
ceived by  appearances.  Not  seeing  immense  capital  put 
into  public  enterprises  and  government  undertakings,  it 
imagines  there  is  none  available. 


U  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

Foreigners  should  remember  that  the  great  merchant 
classes,  only  too  painfully  familiar  with  age-long  fraudu- 
lent schemes  of  the  officials,  are  shy  of  advancing  money 
for  large  public  works  and  undertakings.  Bitter  experi- 
ence has  taught  them  not  to  take  kindly  to  smooth  pro- 
moters of  plans,  even  for  government  undertakings. 

The  country  is  possessed  of  many  holes  in  the  ground 
in  which  the  fortunes  of  the  gulled  have  been  fruitlessly 
sunk  ;  many  highways,  so-called  only  by  the  largest 
stretch  of  the  imagination,  on  which  zealous  officials  for 
ages  have  been  collecting  repair  money  which  those  high- 
ways have  never  seen.  The  Chinese  have  been  forced  to 
live  in  a  realm  of  distrust  and  suspicion.  But  that  does 
not  prove  that  there  is  not  money  in  the  land  for  legiti- 
mate enterprise,  legitimately  carried  on. 

No  student,  informed  on  the  subject,  can  doubt  that 
China  has  the  brain  and  the  brawn  vastly  to  increase 
her  wealth.  As  yet,  under  the  heathen  conditions  these 
physical  and  mental  assets  cannot  be  adequately  applied 
to  the  development  of  the  Creator's  boundless  gifts.  As 
yet  the  people  have  not  learned  to  trust  each  other.  Thus 
as  a  race  they  do  not  take  to  large-scale  commercial  or 
industrial  organization.  ^*  Each  for  himself  is  safer," 
they  argue.  Moreover,  relatively  little  as  yet  goes  into 
the  Central  Government  projects,  because  each  province 
is  in  itself  a  great  government,  needing  much  money  both 
to  meet  its  Eevolutionary  debts  and  to  finance  its  re- 
organization schemes. 

China's  outfit  for  commercial  supremacy,  through  lav- 
ish gifts  of  nature,  is  superb.  The  Yangtse  River  alone 
has  in  its  system  over  twelve  thousand  miles  of  navigable 
waterways.  They  penetrate  nearly  one-half  of  China 
proper.  "  No  country  can  compare  with  her  for  natural 
facilities  of  inland  navigation."  Being  thus  interlaced 
with  a  network  of  canals  and  rivers,  business  and  cheap 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     45 

transport  are  greatly  facilitated.  And  it  is  unique  in 
physical  geography  that  Hankow,  at  the  geographical 
heart  of  China,  to  which  continental  trunk  railroad  lines 
converge  and  to  which  more  will  converge,  from  all  di- 
rections, can  accommodate  ocean  liners  at  her  piers,  six 
hundred  and  eighty  miles  up  the  Yangtse  from  the  sea. 

Existing  railroads  are  yielding  thirty  per  cent,  divi- 
dends ;  and  communication,  by  rapidly  extending  tele- 
graph, post-roads,  railway,  and  newspaper,  is  opening  up 
the  entire  country.  For  example,  authorities  advertise 
that  Tsingtau,  via  Manchuria  and  Siberia,  is  only  four- 
teen days  from  London,  Peking  only  twelve ;  and  great 
trunk  lines  are  in  planning  and  being  built  from  east  to 
west,  and  north  to  south,  that  will  greatly  cut  into  this 
record.  Japan's  railway  in  Manchuria  and  Eussia's  in 
Siberia  will  be  left  relatively  high  and  dry  when  the  new 
inter-continental  traffic  lines  planned  by  the  Chinese  and 
other  Governments  are  put  into  operation — lines  shooting 
passengers  across  Asia  into  Southern  and  Central  Europe 
in  a  period  of  six  to  eight  days.  Already  immense  quan- 
tities of  pig  iron  are  being  shipped  to  America  and  sold 
at  non-competable  prices;  and  the  iron  works  at  Han 
Yang  are  exporting  large  consignments  to  Japan,  Mexico 
and  South  America.  Even  now,  from  far  up  the 
Yangtse,  Chinese  pig  iron  is  being  sold  on  the  Chicago 
market  for  less  than  it  can  be  laid  down  there  from 
Pittsburgh.  And  China  is  just  beginning  to  accept 
modern  inventions  and  to  introduce  labour-saving  ma- 
chinery. 

Professor  Eeinsch  thus  voices  the  conviction  of  many 
publicists  that  vast  industrial  and  commercial  expansion 
is  ahead :  **  When  we  picture  to  ourselves  the  eighteen 
provinces,  many  of  which  in  their  natural  wealth  sur- 
pass, by  far,  countries  like  Germany  and  France,  there  is 
little  room  for  doubt  that,  when  the  industrial  forces  of 


46  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

this  region  have  ouce  been  set  in  motion,  China  will  in 
truth  become  the  '  Tsung  Kwei '  (Middle  Kingdom,  or 
Eealm  of  the  Centre).  The  coal  and  mineral  wealth  of 
China,  taken  in  connection  with  the  vast  and  highly- 
trained,  frugal  and  capable  population,  will,  during  the 
coming  century,  make  the  huge  Eepublic  the  industrial 
centre  of  the  world,  and  the  Pacific  the  chief  centre  of 
commerce.  This  is  possible  in  the  case  of  China,  be- 
cause, unlike  Japan,  she  is  most  abundantly  provided 
with  coal  and  iron  in  close  proximity  to  each  other,  so 
that  the  distance  and  cost  of  transportation  of  raw  ma- 
terial will  be  reduced  to  a  minimum ;  and  factories  can 
be  established  in  localities  where  fuel,  material  and  labour 
exist  in  the  greatest  abundance. " 

Business  uuder  the  Eepublic  has  been  growing  by 
leaps  and  bounds.  Despite  the  Eevolution,  the  Customs 
Gazette  shows  that  China^s  custom  receipts  during  the 
Eevolution  year,  1912,  increased  vastly  over  1911. 

Total  Hal  Kwan  Taels  for  1911,       7,402,667,422 
"       ''         ''         "      ''   1912,      11,274,948,422 

And,  despite  the  Eebellion  of  1913,  there  was  a  steady  in- 
crease in  Custom  Eevenues  also  during  1914,  till  the  out- 
break of  this  world -war. 

And  why  should  there  not  be?  China  has  potenti- 
alities to  make  trade — a  hardy,  thrifty,  brainy  folk ; 
fertile  soil,  rich  minerals,  and  navigable  rivers.  There 
are  estimated  now  to  be  600,000,000  acres  of  arable  land, 
mostly  in  small  plots,  and  so  carefully  cultivated  by 
their  peasant  owners,  that  the  country  is  one  panorama 
of  eye-gladdening  fertility.  China,  because  of  her  many 
kinds  of  fruits,  vegetables  and  cereals,  bids  fair,  when 
she  begins  to  apply  the  latest  scientific  methods  and 
agricultural  machinery,  to  become  the  orchard  and 
garden  and  granary  of  the  world.    With  the  iseacoast 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     47 

on  her  front  studded  with  harbours,  and  fed  into  by  a 
future  network  of  raih'oads,  highways,  canals  and  rivers ; 
and  with  labour  cheaper  than  elsewhere  ;  why  should  not 
China  become  the  trade  mistress  of  the  world  ? 

Europe  has  marvelled  why  the  United  States  allowed 
the  South  American  markets  to  pass,  uncontended  for, 
into  the  hands  of  England,  Germany  and  Japan.  It  is 
much  more  marvellous  why  it  did  not  strain  every 
nerve  to  capture  the  trade  of  its  nearest  neighbour  to  the 
west.  At  last  American  chambers  of  commerce  and 
business  men's  associations  are  beginning  to  investigate  ; 
and  American  oil,  tobacco,  cigarettes,  liquors  and  sew- 
ing machines  are  especially  being  pushed  into  China.  It 
is  for  business  men  everywhere  to  realize — and  the  sooner 
the  better— that,  as  Dr.  A.  H.  Smith  says  :  **  The  theatre 
of  commercial  and  political  activity  in  this  century  has 
already  shifted  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  .  .  .  With  her 
two  thousand  miles  of  coast  line  facing  the  Pacific  ;  with 
a  people  equal  to,  if  not  superior  to,  the  Anglo-Saxon  in 
industry,  economy  and  perseverance  ;  with  millions  of 
cheap  labourers  and  almost  unlimited  raw  material ; 
with  improved  methods  of  agriculture  and  the  introduc- 
tion of  modern  machinery  in  mining  and  manufacturing  ; 
with  the  expansion  of  navigation  and  the  extension  of 
railroads ;  with  the  establishment  of  a  stable  monetary 
system  and  commercial  confidence  ;  with  the  peopling 
and  development  of  the  vast  hinterland  of  Manchuria, 
Mongolia,  Thibet  and  Turkestan,  is  it  not  reasonable  to 
suppose  that,  when  the  strongest  race  of  the  Orient  is 
thoroughly  awakened,  the  mastery  of  the  Pacific  com- 
mercially as  well  as  politically  will  be  in  the  hands  of 
the  Chinese!" 

"American  trade  with  China,  under  reciprocal  treaty 
stipulations,"  says  Dr.  A.  A.  Fulton,  "should  reach  five 
hundred  million  gold  dollars  yearly.     This  is  a  mild  put- 


48  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

tiDg  of  the  case,  when  one  remembers  that  an  increased 
average  annual  income  of  only  five  shillings  ($1.25) 
per  head  in  China  means  a  probable  increased  trade 
to  the  world  at  large,  in  China  or  out  of  it,  of  about 
£100,000,000." 

Is  it  nothing,  then,  to  the  business  men  of  the  world 
that  China  has  started  on  a  path  of  great  industrial  de- 
velopment ?  If,  up  to  the  present,  China  has  been  able 
to  sustain  the  vastest  of  all  national  populations  largely 
by  farming  and  by  such  crude  manufacturing  as  can  be 
carried  on  by  hand — what  of  the  future,  when  Chinese 
commerce,  manufacture  and  business  are  developed,  and 
have  stretched  out  their  tentacles  to  seize  the  trade  of 
the  world  ? 

According  to  the  recent  Chinese  Customs  Census,  the 
Chinese  number  four  hundred  and  forty  million,  one- 
fourth  the  population  of  the  globe,  and  three-fourths  the 
people  of  the  Pacific  basin.  To  Lord  Balfour,  preaching 
imperialism,  is  attributed  the  political  axiom:  **For  a 
state  to  enjoy  permanent  political  greatness,  not  only 
must  it  have  an  adequate  physical  basis  of  empire,  it 
must  also  have  a  numerous  and  virile  population. '' 
.  .  .  What  this  means  can  be  realized  as  one  re- 
views the  struggles  of  Athens,  Sparta  and  Thebes  for 
the  hegemony  of  the  Grecian  States  ;  of  Florence,  Venice 
and  Pisa,  to  dominate  the  kingdoms  and  City  Eepublics 
of  Mediaeval  Italy ;  of  Holland  to  maintain  her  fight 
against  Britain  for  sea  supremacy  .  .  .  and  all 
finally  losing,  for  lack  of  men.  And  within  only  the 
last  few  months  Montenegro,  as  intrepid  as  tiny,  had  the 
will,  single-handed,  to  throw  down  the  gauntlet  to  the 
great  powers  of  Europe,  when  they  in  united  puissance 
blockaded  her  one  lone  harbour.  And  to-day  the  cry 
of  her  gallant  king,  as  of  maev  another  ruler,  ^:  "Oh, 
if  I  only  had  the  men  i '» 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE 


49 


The  Rev.  W.  M.  Hayes,  D.  D.,  is  one  of  China's  ablest 
sinelogues,  educators  and  missionary  statesmen.  Dwell- 
ing in  the  laud  for  thirty  years,  he  concisely  puts  the 
situation  in  these  words :  "  Population  is  to  a  nation  what 
cells  are  to  a  battery — the  electro- motive  power  depends 
on  it.  And  China  has  the  cells."  For  example,  Szech- 
uan  Province  alone  has  nearly  seventy  million  people ; 
and  Shantung  about  forty  millions,  with  an  average  of 
six  hundred  and  eighty-three  people  to  the  square  mile  ; 
in  sections,  2,150  to  the  square  mile.  The  Chinese  are 
numerous  enough  to  equal  the  warring  nations  of  Europe, 
plus  several  neutrals. 


Population  of  Warring  Europe  and  that  of  interested 
Neutrals^  compared  with  that  of  China, 


England, 

34,045,290 

Scotland, 

4,760,904 

Ireland, 

4,390,215 

Wales,    . 

2,025,202 

Canada, 

7,900,000 

Australia, 

6,200,000 

New  Zealand, 

1,039,417 

Fiji  Islands,    . 

130,981 

British  South  Africa, 

5,317,604 

Egypt,    . 

9,821,100 

Isle  of  Man  and  Channc 

3lis. 

148,915 

75,779,628 

France,  . 

35,631,509 

Algeria, 

5,600,000 

Morocco, 

5,000,000 

Madagascar,    . 

2,505,000 

French  Congo, 

8,000,000 

46,736,509 

Montenegro,    . 

• 

230,000 

230,000 

Servia,    . 

• 

2,911,701 

2,911,701 

50 


CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 


Portugal, 
Port.  Africa, 

•  • 

•  • 

5,400,000 
8,000,000 

13,400,000 

Eussian  Poland, 

•        • 

4,000,000 

4,000,000 
15,423,784 

Belgium, 

"        Congo, 

•  • 

•  • 

7,423,784 
8,000,000 

Germany, 

**        East  Africa,     . 
"        West  Africa,    . 

64,925,993 

10,380,000 

212,900 

75,518,893 

Austria, 

•        • 

49,458,421 

49,458,421 

Turkey  in  Europe, 
'^      ''  Asia,      . 

1,891,000 
17,683,000 

19,574,000 
7,230,418 

Eoumania, 

•        • 

7,230,418 

Denmark, 

Norway, 

Sweden, 

2,775,076 
2,391,782 
6,604,182 

Holland, 

6,114,302 

Switzerland, 

3,781,430 

Spain,     . 
Italy,      . 
Greece,    . 
Persia,    . 

19,588,688 

35,238,997 

2,733,000 

10,000,000 

88,227,457 

398,490,811 

All  these  combined  do  not  approximate  China. 

To  count  the  Chinese,  one  a  second  for  eight  hours  a 
day,  would  require  over  thirty-eight  years.  If  they  held 
hands  (allowing  a  distance  of  four  feet  each)  they  would 
stretch  far  beyond  the  moon  (250,000  miles) ;   again. 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     51 

holding  hands  they  would  stretch  more  than  twelve  times 
around  the  earth  at  the  equator. 

Such  vast  numbers  the  mind  fails  to  grasp.  However, 
an  illustration  used  by  Professor  Giles  of  Cambridge 
University  may  serve  to  vivify  the  idea  of  China's  multi- 
tudes :  "If  the  Chinese  people  were  to  file  one  by  one 
past  a  given  point,  the  interesting  procession  would  never 
come  to  an  end.  Before  the  last  man  of  those  living  had 
gone  by,  another  and  a  new  generation  would  have  grown 
up  to  take  its  place,  and  so  the  procession  would  pass  on 
forever. " 

The  Cheng  Tu  Plain  of  Szechuan  Province  is  the  most 
thickly  populated  spot  in  the  world,  with  the  exception 
of  the  county  of  London.  While  the  average  population 
a  square  mile  for  Iowa  is  thirty-nine,  for  the  Eighteen 
Provinces  it  is  two  hundred  and  eighty ;  for  the  Cheng 
Tu  Plain  it  is  seven  hundred — all  of  them  living  off  the 
land. 

And  yet  China  is  not  over-populated.  The  total 
average  density  of  population  to  the  square  mile  of 
Japan  (with  a  population  of  67,143,798)  is  two  hundred 
and  eighty-one;  that  of  the  United  Kingdom  (with  a 
population  of  45,221,611)  is  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
one  ;  of  Belgium  (the  densest  population  of  Europe — with 
7,432,784,  before  its  decimation  by  Germany)  six  hun- 
dred and  fifty-four  to  the  square  mile ;  while  that  of 
China,  including  dependencies,  is  only  ninety-seven. 

The  commercial  attach^  at  the  United  States  Legation 
at  Peking,  Mr.  Julian  Arnold,  writes:  "  About  ninety- 
five  per  cent,  of  the  population  of  China  is  confined  to  one- 
third  of  the  area  of  the  country,  with  a  density  of  200  to 
the  square  mile.  Five  per  cent,  of  the  population  inhabits 
sixty-five  per  cent,  of  the  area,  with  a  density  of  ten  to 
the  square  mile.  Lack  of  transportation  facilities  and 
inadequate  means  of  protection  account  for  the  sparse- 


62  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

ness  of  settlement  in  the  outlying  dependencies.  About 
forty  per  cent,  of  China's  population  is  in  the  provinces 
south  of  the  Yangtse  River,  with  a  density  of  230  to  the 
square  mile.  This  territory  has  twice  the  area  of  the 
original  thirteen  states  of  the  American  Union  and  four 
times  the  population. 

*'In  the  outlying  dependencies  constituting  sixty-five 
per  cent,  of  the  total  area  of  China,  the  density  of  popu- 
lation is  less  than  that  of  the  Middle  West  of  the  United 
States.' ' 

This  is  not  the  occasion  to  enlarge  in  detail  upon  the 
race  traits  of  the  Chinese ;  but  some  of  them  deserve  here 
more  than  passing  notice. 

First,  their  homogeniety  is  a  powerful  factor  in  their 
past  and  future  greatness.  Nowhere  within  the  provinces 
is  there  any  such  conjunction  of  mutually  hostile  states  and 
clashing  racial  animosities  and  bitter  religious  antipathies 
as  have  made  the  rule  of  India  a  serious  and  uncertain 
problem  for  England's  solution.  The  developing  pride 
and  joy  of  the  Chinese,  as  sung  everywhere  by  school 
children  of  New  China,  is  that  they  are  four  hundred  and 
forty  million  ^*  Han  Yin"  (men  of  Han),  and  conscious 
of  their  united  destiny.  For  centuries  land-locked  and 
sea-locked — frozen  steppes  on  the  north,  highest  of  all 
mountains  to  the  west  and  southwest,  and  the  widest  of 
oceans  in  front — they  have  in  some  ways  been  more 
peculiarly  ^^shut  up"  than  the  Jews  in  preparation  for 
their  great  mission. 

Their  language,  a  written  one,  peculiar  among  the 
languages  of  the  earth,  but  common  to  all  Han  Yin,  to- 
gether with  customs  and  religions,  uniform  in  the  main, 
plus  their  isolation  for  ages  from  surrounding  nations, 
have  made  them  practically  a  unit.  ^^A  patriarchal 
government,  based  intellectually  upon  a  common  litera- 
ture that  heretofore  has  been  the  stepping  stone  to  official 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     53 

employment,  has  welded  them  together  as  by  bands  of 
irou  J  so  that  to-day  they  present  a  united  front  to  the 
West." 

Another  remarkable  trait  of  the  Chinese,  matched  only 
in  America,  is  their  power  of  assimilation.  Though  now 
homogeneous,  they  have  long  been  in  the  melting  pot, 
and  have  come  out  of  it  in  remarkable  racial  strength. 

Can  all  this  be  for  other  than  a  mighty  purpose  of 
God  ?  K'otable  ancient  states  and  peoples,  such  as  those 
of  Egypt  and  Persia,  have  come  into  subjection  to  younger 
races ;  or,  like  the  Picts,  Celts  and  Angles,  have  lost  their 
pristine  individuality ;  or  like  the  Slavs  and  Balkan 
peoples,  have  been  vastly  changed  by  race  mixture  and 
by  the  interplay  of  other  civilizations  upon  them  ;  or  like 
the  Hittites,  Assyrians,  and  Aztecs,  have  been  written 
on  the  melancholy  roll  of  history,  dead.  But  China 
stands  China  to-day.  The  ancient  Eoman  State  moved 
with  the  irresistible  majesty  of  a  glacier,  crushing  all  be- 
fore it.  Chinese  race-history  reminds  one  of  the  tides. 
The  motion  of  a  baby  hand  can  deflect  their  waters— a 
little  and  for  a  time.  But  they  sweep  on  in  resistless 
mobility,  swallowing  all  in  their  path.  Eome,  though 
conferring  the  proud  gift  of  citizenship  upon  many  of  its 
conquered  peoples,  never  could  make  a  Parthian  or  a 
Carthaginian  a  Eoman.  Jews  are  fighting  in  all  the 
armies  of  Europe  ;  but  they  are  neither  Eussians  nor 
Austriaus  nor  Germans  nor  French  nor  Poles  nor  Eng- 
lish. No  other  race  ever  made  the  Jew  dwelling  in  its 
midst  an  integral  part  of  the  stream  of  its  national  life. 
Bat  the  Chinese  have  amalgamated  that  company  of  the 
Dispersion  who  wandered  into  their  midst  and  settled  in 
the  region  of  Kai  Feng  Fu. 

The  Mohammedans  are  supposed  to  be  the  hardest  re- 
ligious nut  in  the  world  to  crack.  What  nation,  from 
the  days  of  the  Byzantine  Empire,  has  been  able  to  curb 


64  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

their  stubborn  fanaticism  ?  Italy  and  France  in  North 
Africa  rule  them  and  the  Balkan  States  in  Europe  smash 
them,  but  cannot  mix  with  them  in  a  peace  that  is  born 
of  equality ;  Austria  can  do  little  with  her  Mohammedan 
subjects,  but  must  cater  to  them  on  every  hand — build 
their  mosques,  organize  them  into  special  regiments,  give 
them  distinctive  dress  and  extra  pay  and  peculiar  food. 
Russia,  who  like  an  anaconda  has  gormandized  scores  of 
weaker  peoples,  is  equally  impotent  to  mould  the  Mo- 
hammedans in  its  midst  England  the  supreme  colonizer 
and  past-master  in  the  art  of  handling  subject  races — 
what  mass-movement  of  her  Mohammedans  has  she  ever 
been  able  so  to  direct  as  to  make  these  wild  hordes  take 
on  the  characteristics  of  Euglish  men  ?  But  China  has 
absorbed  her  Mohammedans — millions  of  them — and  they 
have  become  Chinese.  Usurpers  and  conquerors,  like 
Ghenghis  Khan  and  his  Mongols  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, and  the  Manchus  in  the  seventeenth,  have  had  to 
conform  to  the  customs,  language,  religions,  laws,  litera- 
ture and  government  of  the  conquered — and  thereby  lose 
their  identity  as  the  price  of  keeping  place  and  power 
even  for  a  season. 

As  the  Chinese  proverb  puts  the  situation  :  "  China  is 
a  sea  that  salts  all  waters  that  flow  into  it."  Its  history 
shows  that  ''the  conqueror  has  always  suffered  one  of 
two  fates — he  has  been  forced  to  retreat  or  he  has  been 
quickly  assimilated.^' 

As  their  power  of  assimilation  in  part  explains  their 
homogeniety,  so  their  marvellous  adaptability  to  all  con- 
ditions— of  climate,  of  work,  of  environment — may  in 
part  explain  their  powers  of  assimilation. 

''The  Chinaman,"  as  Bishop  Fowler  says,  "crosses 
all  seas,  burrows  into  all  continents.  He  excels  the 
Saxon  in  ability  to  toil  in  all  climates  ;  he  matches  the 
Russian   in  enduring  Arctic  storms  j   he  surpasses  the 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE     55 

Negro  in  labouriDg  in  the  tropics.  He  is  the  one  cosmo- 
politan, at  home  everywhere,  as  if  he  owned  the  world. 
Silent,  gentle,  submissive,  industrious,  economical,  tem- 
perate, all-enduring — he  thrives  everywhere.  On  moun- 
tains, in  the  deserts,  on  the  plains,  on  the  islands.  As 
the  serpent,  with  his  one  ability  to  crawl,  competes  in  all 
realms— without  fins  swims  with  the  fish,  without  hands 
climbs  with  the  monkey,  without  feet  runs  with  the 
panther — so  the  Chinaman,  with  his  supreme  gift  of 
adaptability,  competes  successfully  with  the  sailor  on  the 
sea,  with  the  frontiersman  in  the  wilderness,  with  the 
miner  in  the  earth,  with  the  exile  in  his  wanderings. 
He  never  asks  for  a  fair  chance,  and  never  gets  it.  He 
takes  a  chance  beneath  the  notice  of  anybody  else's  con- 
tempt, and  succeeds.  Once  landed,  he  abides.  The  indi- 
vidual changes,  but  the  kind  continues.  A  human 
microbe,  he  multiplies.  Many  men,  when  they  emigrate 
to  other  lands,  are  *  agin '  the  governments  of  the  land  to 
which  they  go.  The  Chinese,  not  being  a  politician,  is 
not.  All  governments  that  let  him  alone  suit  him.  He 
never  breeds  nor  joins  revolutions  abroad.  He  is  versa- 
tile ;  and  all  industries  that  have  a  possible  margin  at- 
tract him.  He  never  boycotts  any  occupation.  All 
occupations  are  good  if  they  pay  ;  and  all  occupations 
pay  him.  Not  being  ambitious,  except  for  more  cash, 
all  social  orders  that  give  return  for  service  are  equally 
satisfactory  to  him.  He,  of  all  men,  is  pleasing  to  the 
greatest  variety  of  women.  He  marries  through  the 
widest  range  of  races.  Like  a  mongoose  he  can  run 
through  any  passageway.  Though  fond  of  a  palace,  he 
can  live  in  a  hut ;  though  fond  of  space,  he  can  live  in  a 
sewer -pipe; — and  beat  home  anywhere.  As  gravity 
draws  all  rivers  along  the  lines  of  least  resistance,  so  hia 
instinct  for  gain,  plus  his  discernment,  draws  him  along 
lines  where  there  is  the  least  waste  of  energy.     Now  that 


66  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

which,  par  excellence,  makes  a  man  a  colonizer  is 
adaptability ;  and  the  Chinese  is  the  supreme  colonizer. 
He  stands  unrivalled  in  this.  All  countries  are  his — 
from  frozen  Siberia  to  torrid  India,  Burmah  and  Africa, 
even  to  its  southernmost  gold  mines  ;  also  all  the  Amer- 
icas, from  Alaska  to  the  Horn,  including  the  Caribbees, 
Porto  Eico,  Cuba,  Hawaii  and  Philippines.  All  islands 
of  the  sea  are  his.  He  has  the  largest  colonies,  here  and 
there,  on  the  earth,  even  larger  than  the  British  colony 
at  Buenos  Ayres.  In  the  Malay  Straits,  he  far  outnum- 
bers all  the  Malays.  In  Siam  he  is  three  million  strong, 
nearly  one-third  the  entire  population  of  that  kingdom. 
But  for  the  fact  that  he  could  not  vote  in  America,  and 
that  the  politicians  oppose  him  in  the  selfish  interest  of 
many  none  the  worthier  (who  are  allowed  to  vote),  he  might 
have  been  to-day  ten  million  strong  under  our  flag.  It 
took  all  the  venom  of  local  prejudice,  all  the  chicanery 
of  labour  leaders,  all  the  congressional  corruption  that 
violated  our  solemn  treaty  obligations,  all  the  might  of 
the  Federal  Government,  to  check  this  silent,  creeping, 
unresisting,  though  ever  on-pressing  tide. " 

The  Chinese  race  is  one  to  be  reckoned  with.  Who- 
ever belittles  it  does  not  understand  the  lessons  of  his- 
tory ;  he  who  condescends  towards  it  is  not  wise. 


II 

Racial  Traits 
A  Study  of  Some  Modern  Achievements 


n 

EACIAL  TEAITS 

WHILE  Americans  see  three  generations  born, 
many  of  the  Chinese  see  four.  The  signifi- 
cance of  this  can  only  be  understood  in  the 
light  of  the  fact  that  medical  missionary  reports  show 
that  from  sixty  to  eighty  per  cent,  of  all  babies  born  die 
in  infancy  and  childhood — heathen  ignorance  and  super- 
stition as  immediately  producing  causes.  Naturally  those 
who  survive  are  the  fittest.  Those  who  in  the  United 
States  see  the  small,  wiry,  slight-built  Chinese  from  the 
south  coast  of  China,  do  not  know  the  Chinese.  From 
Central  China  northward  they  are  a  big-framed,  power- 
ful-statured  race.  Indeed  the  people  of  West  China  are 
the  giants  of  the  Orient.  Whoever  has  witnessed  a  re- 
view of  Yuan  Shi  Kai's  foreign-trained  troops,  not  to 
speak  of  having  lived  among  and  studied  the  peasant 
masses,  has  a  new  conception  of  the  physical  fitness  of 
the  Chinese.  And  with  every  passing  year  the  physical 
conditions  of  this  prolific  race,  under  missionary  and 
educational  development,  are  improving,  so  that  a  larger 
percentage  of  its  numbers  can  survive. 

Professor  Reinsch  speaks  as  follows  of  this  active,  ener- 
getic race:  **For  ages  there  has  been  with  them  a  sur- 
vival of  the  hardiest.  Trained  from  youth  to  subsist  on 
meagre  diet,  to  get  along  with  little  sleep,  to  work  pa- 
tiently from  twelve  to  fourteen  hours  a  day,  these  men 
scoff  at  difficulties  and  exertions  which  would  within  a 
year  weary  a  European  to  death."    Baron  Von  Eichofen 

59 


60  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

has  explored  China  more  extensively  than  any  one  else, 
and  has  studied  it  scientifically  and  economically.  He 
maintains  that  "in  the  struggle  for  existence  the  Chinese 
have  the  advantage  over  inhabitants  of  the  tropics  and 
over  uncivilized  races  generally,  of  restless  industry ;  over 
the  people  of  Europe,  the  advantage  of  extreme  thrift ; 
and  apparently  over  the  other  inhabitants  on  the  earth,  of 
being  suited  to  any  other  climate."  This  toughness  of 
physical  fibre  that  manifests  itself  in  the  ability  of  a  Chi- 
naman to  hang  on  and  endure  against  hope  suggests  a 
famous  saying  in  the  Far  East:  "A  Chinese  can  live 
longer  on  a  cash  piece  (one-fiftieth  of  an  American  copper 
cent)  than  any  other  human  ;  and  when  that  is  gone,  he 
can  live  off  the  hole." 

This  age,  and  the  governments  thereof,  being  built  on 
force,  such  a  capacity  for  physical  endurance  cannot  es- 
cape scrutiny,  in  face  of  the  inevitable  weighing  of  the 
fighting  potentialities  of  every  nation.  Eumours  from 
Eussian  sources  credit  the  Chinese  Government  with  a 
plan  to  develop  a  standing  army  of  fifty  million  soldiers. 
If  true,  its  significance  is  beyond  words,  and  everybody 
will  want  to  know  about  the  possible  soldier-qualities  of 
the  Chinese. 

Putman  Weale,  in  one  of  his  volumes  of  epic  scope  on 
the  Far  East,  says :  "  Whilst  the  ordinary  man  all  over 
the  world  still  pictures  the  Chinese  soldier  as  the  effete 
and  worthless  coolie,  the  fact  is  becoming  more  and  more 
clear  to  European  military  agents  in  China  that  the 
Chinaman  is  not  only  not  effete  and  worthless,  but  that 
he  is  being  developed  into  the  most  formidable  soldier  on 
the  Continent  of  Asia.  Contemptuous  of  death,  physic- 
ally far  superior  to  the  Japanese,  wiih  an  immense  pride 
of  race  and  a  quickness  and  ingenuity  which  far  eclipses 
that  of  all  other  Eastern  races,  it  requires  but  good  lead- 
ws  and  a  careful  selection  from  the  great  masses  of  men 


RACIAL  TRAITS  61 

available  to  evolve  army  corps  which,  conscious  of  their 
strength,  will  defy  the  best  troops  of  Europe."*  As  to 
the  bravery  of  the  rank  and  file,  men  like  General  Gordon, 
Lord  Roberts  and  Lord  Beresford,  who  know  a  real  sol- 
dier when  they  see  him,  unite  in  declaring,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Admiral  Dewey,  that,  *^  properly  armed,  sus- 
tained and  led,  the  world  affords  no  better  material  than 
the  Chinese  soldier.'' 

To  students  of  China,  few  things  are  more  impressive 
than  the  recuperative  powers  of  the  nation. 

Professor  Legge,  a  conservative  and  authoritative 
British  scholar  of  things  Chinese,  says  :  *' Probably  there 
is  no  country  in  the  world  which  has  drunk  so  much 
blood  from  its  battles,  sieges  and  massacres  as  China." 
And  Dr.  Ernest  Faber,  the  erudite  German  sinologue, 
has  written :  ''Rebellions  in  China  have  occurred  on  a 
large  scale  over  fifty  times  in  about  two  thousand  years, 
and  local  rebellions  over  some  province  are  almost  yearly 
events— numberless.  It  is  impossible  to  calculate  how 
many  hundreds  of  millions  of  human  lives  have  been 
sacrificed  during  these  rebellions.'' 

Note  that  the  Tai  Ping  rebellion  was  waged  fourteen 
years  to  establish  ''The  Great  Peace  Heaven  Kingdom," 
with  the  result  that  the  Manchu  usurpers  were  seated  the 
more  firmly ;  and  perhaps  a  hundred  million  lives,  as 
suggested  by  Dr.  A.  H.  Smith,  were  snuffed  out  in  the 
process.  That  is  to  say,  between  1850-1864  more  Chinese 
perished,  by  forty  millions,  than  the  combined  popula- 
tion of  the  France  and  Germany  of  that  time. 

The  catastrophes  of  nature  have  also  been  appalling 
beyond  belief.  For  many  decades  not  a  year  has  passed 
during  which  one  or  more  provinces  have  not  been  deci- 
mated by  drought  or  flood  or  famine  or  fever  or  pesti- 
lence or  plague  or  piracy  or  brigandage  ;  by  local  rebel- 
*  **  Reshaping  the  Far  East." 


62  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

lions  or  by  foreign  wars, — never  one  of  these  disasters 
alone — and  all  the  time  by  opium. 

At  the  point  of  the  bayonet  in  two  wars  opium  was 
forced  on  the  Chinese.  To  fend  it  off,  they  spent  vast 
sums,  fighting  a  powerful  Christian  nation.  Then  they 
paid  vaster  sums  in  indemnity  as  the  price  of  their  defeat. 
Then  they  paid  into  the  coffers  of  the  Indian  Government 
the  appallingly  vast  sum  of  eight  hundred  million  pounds 
($5,400,000,000  gold)  for  the  privilege  of  being  ruined 
physically,  mentally,  morally — and  always  under  helpless 
protest.  Mr.  Towyn  Jones  was  speaking,  May  7,  1913, 
in  the  House  of  Commons  against  Britain  longer  forcing 
opium  upon  China  (which  had  then  interdicted  the 
growth  and  sale  of  opium  upon  her  soil).  Seventy  mil- 
lion gold  dollars^  worth  of  Indian  opium  was  at  that  mo- 
ment stored  in  Shanghai  for  forced  Chinese  consumption. 
Mr.  Smith  said  :  **  Opium  has  destroyed  a  greater  number 
of  Chinese  people  than  war,  famine  and  pestilence  to- 
gether. Can  what  we  in  Britain  label  ^ poison^  be  in 
China  *  food '  ?  "  There  was  no  reply.  How  could  there 
be,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  British  Parliament  had 
twice  declared  the  traffic  * '  morally  indefensible  ^ '  ;  and 
that  when  the  Empress  Dowager  in  1906  began  her  cam- 
paign to  blot  out  the  traffic,  a  register  (ordered  of  all 
consumers  of  the  drug)  showed  forty  per  cent,  of  the 
population  to  be  opium  users. 

From  the  inception  of  modern  relationships  with  the 
West  the  Chinese  Government  has  been  unj  ustly  wrung 
for  every  sort  of  concession — political,  economic,  terri- 
torial. When  stung  to  madness,  the  people  have  made 
savage  retorts.  And  for  these  they  have  been  punished 
mercilessly,  brutally. 

For  example,  the  Boxer  outbreak  indemnity  was  an 
extra  tidbit  of  some  67,500,000  pounds  (almost  $337,- 
000,000  gold).     How  just  it  was  may  be  judged  from 


RACIAL  TRAITS  63 

this  fact:  Russians  share  was  19,575,000  pounds,  or 
twenty-nine  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  This  claim  embraced 
pay  for  120,000  troops  who  were  never  concerned  directly 
or  indirectly  with  the  suppression  of  the  outbreak  ;  but 
who,  while  the  other  Powers  and  China  were  busy  at  the 
siege  of  Peking,  were  busy  in  Manchuria,  stealing  that 
vast  domain  by  a  process  which  Russia  euphemistically 
styled  "painless  identification."  We  are  told  that  Rus- 
sia had  seventy-five  soldiers  in  the  siege  of  Peking  and 
seventy-five  more  marched  to  its  relief. 

Without  referring  to  the  drastic  and  amazing  claims 
put  in  by  the  Powers  in  connection  with  the  hypothetical 
losses  that  they  affirmed  their  merchants  might  not  have 
sustained  had  there  been  no  rebellion  against  the  Repub- 
lic, China's  foreign  debt,  contracted  by  the  effete  Man- 
chu  dynasty  and  wasted  largely  in  their  imperial  excesses^ 
mounted  up  to  more  than  $700,000,000  gold.  No  other 
nation,  either  as  a  political  entity  or  as  a  race,  has  ever 
paid  such  appalling  tolls  of  blood  and  treasure,  all  so 
utterly  without  returns — and  still  survived  its  losses. 

And  yet  the  Chinese,  though  all  their  ancient  con- 
temporaries have  passed  into  mournful  oblivion,  are  to- 
day more  numerous,  more  energetic  and  more  prosperous 
than  ever  before  in  their  history — the  mystery  of  the  na- 
tions. The  situation  was  succinctly  put  by  Mr.  T.  T. 
Meadows,  a  British  Consul  of  "  philosophic  temper  and 
of  large  knowledge  of  China,"  who,  more  than  fifty 
years  ago,  published  "The  Chinese  and  their  Rebellions,'^ 
a  book  fruitful  in  suggestions  as  to  the  reason  of  their 
endurance.  Seated  on  the  pyramid  of  Cheops,  he  cog- 
itated over  this  matter  in  the  lines  of  Lowell : 

"  There  sits  drear  Egypt  'mid  beleaguering  sands 
Half  woman  and  half  beast, 
The  burnt-out  torch  within  her  mouldering  hands 
Which  once  lit  all  the  East." 


64  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

And  then  he  wrote  :  ^^The  Chinese  have  as  much  youth 
and  vitality  in  them  as  the  youngest  of  the  young  na- 
tions. " 

As  England  has  long  felt  concern  over  the  trade-mark 
*^Made  in  Germany,"  so  Russia  has  long  feared  the  ex- 
traordinary business  capacity  of  the  Chinese,  a  capacity 
that  can  endanger  the  commercial  supremacy  of  Europe. 
Any  one  who  knows  China  knows  that  the  Chinese  are 
formidable  competitors.  As  keen  buyers  and  sellers, 
they  are  inherently  careful  students  of  market  move- 
ments, of  questions  of  supply  and  demand,  of  present 
and  future  market  rates,  and  of  how  to  take  advantage 
of  the  same.  "  Watch  a  Chinese  business  man  as  he 
figures  his  accounts.  Though  his  features  are  immobile, 
you  soon  realize  that  his  gray  matter  is  not.  While  his 
nimble  fingers  run  up  and  down  the  balls  of  the  abacus, 
he  is  listening  to  those  around  him,  often  giving  orders 
to  clerks  or  to  carters  and  barrow-men  and  coolies  in  the 
yard,  and  all  the  while  without  raising  his  head  or  ceas- 
ing to  calculate  with  his  left  hand  and  write  with  his 
right.  Brain,  mouth,  eyes,  hands — all  working  at  once  ; 
yet  few  mistakes.  Such  characteristics  impress  the  on- 
looker that  here  is  a  born  trader. ''  Indeed  he  must  be, 
to  work  the  puzzle  of  Chinese  moneys — *^  most  confused 
and  intricate  of  all  currencies."  Yet  he  works  it  easily  ; 
and  by  manipulating  the  balls  of  his  abacus  he  will 
reckon  sums  faster  than  the  average  foreigner  can  by 
means  of  the  Arabic  numerals. 

A  well-known  New  York  banker,  who  for  two  years 
travelled  all  over  China,  studying  its  economical  possi- 
bilities, says :  ^*  China  not  only  has  the  greatest  unde- 
veloped resources  known  in  the  world,  but  she  represents 
the  largest  aggregation  of  able  traders,  merchants  and 
bankers. ''  **The  Chinaman  is,  par  excellence,  the  busi- 
ness man  of  the  Orient.     He  owns  and  manages  great 


RACIAL  TRAITS  66 

steamship  lines,  banks,  factories,  mines,  plantations, 
railroads,  mercantile  establishments,  vast  corporations, 
not  only  in  his  land ; — not  only  in  the  English  colony  of 
Hong  Kong,  in  Japan,  in  the  Straits  Settlements,  in  India, 
Burmah,  and  Siam ;  but  in  Boston,  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia, Chicago  and  San  Francisco."  Little  men  may 
laugh  at  him  ;  but  none  dare  ignore  him.  While  some 
sneer,  he  becomes  a  master.  The  hostility  to  and  envy 
of  the  Chinaman  is  that  born  of  jealousy.  'No  wise  man 
despises  a  powerful  rival.  Heretofore  we  have  looked 
upon  the  Jew  as  the  greatest  trader  in  the  world.  In  the 
Far  East  they  say  :  **  A  Chinaman  can  skin  a  Jew  out  of 
his  eye-teeth.'^  And  it  is  highly  significant  that,  for 
decades,  wherever  the  Hebrew  and  the  Celestial  have 
come  into  business  competition,  the  latter,  by  his  supe- 
rior ability,  has  said  to  the  former,  as  Savonarola  to 
Lorenzo :  *^  You  must  go,  but  I  shall  remain  !  "  And 
the  Jew  has  gone  ! 

In  a  land  where  until  recently  calisthenics  and  ath- 
letics have  been  below  par ;  and  where  the  marks  of  a 
scholar  were  a  slow  gait,  stooped  shoulders,  a  narrow 
chest,  long  finger-nails  and,  possibly,  a  hectic  cough  ;  our 
Mission  school  boys,  of  the  first  generation  out  of  hea- 
thenism, have  attended  the  first  meeting  of  the  Far  East- 
ern Olympic  games  at  Manilla,  and,  competing  against 
white  men  and  Orientals  of  various  races,  have  won.  In 
the  same  way  it  has  surprised  Westerners  to  find  boys 
out  of  squalid  mud  villages,  the  first  generation  out  of 
heathenism,  ranking  with  the  best  students  in  our  uni- 
versities and  frequently  capturing  first  places.  Many  a 
Chinese  student,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  has  been 
an  honour  man,  despite  the  handicap  of  working  in  a 
strange  language.  When  ex-President  Elliott  of  Harvard 
was  asked  how  the  forty-seven  Chinese  students  then  in 
the  University  compared  with  the  American  students,  he 


66  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

answered  :  *'I  should  have  to  search  amoug  hundreds  of 
Americans  to  find  their  equals  !  "  Probably  most  edu- 
cators in  the  Far  East  would  agree  with  Dr.  A.  A.  Fulton, 
a  missionary  leader  of  thirty  years'  experience  in  China : 
'^  I  will  match  Chinese  children  with  the  children  of  any 
other  nation,  both  in  their  desire  to  learn  and  in  their 
ability  to  reach  a  high  standard." 

In  diplomatic  discussion  involving  delicate  controver- 
sies as  well  as  in  questions  affecting  international  inter- 
ests, the  Chinese  have  proven  themselves  the  equals  of 
some  of  the  best  minds  of  European  nations.  For  dec- 
ades, in  their  political  intercourse  with  the  West,  their 
only  weapon  was  their  finesse.  What  could  better  illus- 
trate their  diplomatic  resourcefulness  than  the  manner  in 
which  they  handled  the  international  Quadruple  and 
Sextuple  Loan  Groups  ?  Without  the  adventitious  aids 
of  international  banking  corporations  and  powerful 
armies,  they,  by  the  might  of  their  own  acumen,  fended 
off  the  mercenary  conditions  of  the  forced  loan  from 
March  14,  1912,  to  December  12,  1912,  holding  up  to  the 
whole  world  the  loan-shark  trick  therein,  and  causing 
honest  men  everywhere  to  blush  at  the  odious  condi- 
tions imposed,  and  finally  bringing  forces  into  play  that 
defeated  the  loan  as  thus  organized.  And  this,  despite 
the  fact  that  arrayed  against  them  were  the  combined 
brains  of  many  financial  experts  of  Europe  and  America, 
backed  by  the  reputation,  wealth  and  power  of  six  of  the 
most  powerful  Governments  whose  ^'honour"  was  at 
stake  to  jam  through  the  deal,  and  whose  diplomatic 
representative  schemed  day  and  night  to  force  the  Chinese 
to  swallow  their  Egyptianizing  pill. 

An  American  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Secretary  to  the  Chinese, 
born  and  brought  up  in  China,  says  :  "  As  to  China's 
scholars  we  are  only  beginning  to  realize  that,  with  all 
the  faults  of  her  educational  system,  it  has  produced  a 


KACIAL  TRAITS  67 

race  of  thinkers,  the  brainiest  race  in  Asia,  who  com- 
bined the  mental  alertness  of  the  Americans  with  the 
solid  endurance  of  the  German  student.  China's  weak- 
ness in  the  past  has  not  been  due  to  a  lack  of  intellectual 
vigour.  Her  people  have  been  thinkers,  as  evinced  by 
the  practical  good  sense  of  scores  of  millions  of  peasants 
who  are  able  to  produce  larger  crops  per  acre  probably 
than  any  people  not  trained  in  the  most  recently  de- 
veloped methods  of  scientific  farming  carried  on  with 
large  capital.  Not  slumber,  not  intellectual  inability  to 
meet  a  situation,  explains  China's  backwardness  and 
seemingly  arrested  development,  but  isolation  plus  the 
pall  of  heathenism  and  a  reactionary  dynastic  govern- 
ment. It  does  not  prove  that  the  Chinese  are  inade- 
quately equipped  mentally  because  they  have  not  always 
thought  in  profitable  directions.  This  is  everywhere  the 
penalty  upon  men  for  not  living  according  to  the  light 
of  revelation.  But  the  Chinese  are  now  beginning  to 
think  profitably ;  and  no  better  evidence  of  their  intel- 
lectual power  profitably  applied  need  be  adduced  than 
the  marvellous  rapidity  with  which  they  assimilate 
Western  ideas.  Five  years  before  1900  the  ignorance  of 
the  ruling  class  was  so  crass,  their  pride  so  overweening 
and  their  self-satisfied  aloofness  so  dense,  that  scores  of 
millions  not  only  did  not  know  that  Japan  had  beaten 
China,  but  did  not  even  know  that  China  had  been  at 
war.  Five  years  after  1900  the  ruling  class  had  become 
so  permeated  with  Western  thought  as  to  render  im- 
probable the  recurrence  of  such  storms  as  the  cataclysm 
of  1900.  Even  Japan,  with  her  almost  magic  power  of 
transformation,  has  not  been  so  quick  as  China  to  bring 
the  rank  and  file  of  her  educated  leaders  to  appreciate 
the  fundamental  factors  of  progress." 

Such  a  people  may  be  counted  upon  to  have  a  passion 
for  learning.     And  to  know  how  intense,  one  needs  to 


68  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

dwell  in  the  laud  and  note  its  many  manifestations.  Now 
that  many  from  the  leading  classes — officials,  literati  and 
government  students — believe  that  education,  and  in  its 
Western  variety,  is  the  key  to  power,  they  want  it.  And 
the  Christians,  throughout  the  land,  thinking  of  it  as 
inseparably  associated  with  ^Hhe  Jesus  Eeligion,"  also 
desire  it,  and  to  a  point  of  sacrifice  that  the  rich  city 
gentry  cannot  appreciate.  In  many  a  little  mud  village 
of  China  many  a  peasant  parent  ekes  out  the  meagre 
winter  supply  of  soupy  vegetable  food  by  mixing  in 
dried  sweet-potato  leaves — the  same  dried  leaves  that 
each  householder  feeds  his  pigs — and  many  a  meal  is 
omitted  altogether — both  by  parents  and  by  children, — 
in  order  to  avail  themselves  of  Mission  school  privileges, 
to  pay  the  required  tuition  in  a  higher  school,  or  theii 
share  of  a  Christian  teacher's  salary  in  a  primary  school 
established  by  the  Mission  in  their  own  village. 

In  a  world  where  might  makes  right,  where  conquerors 
and  nations  have  long  been  obsessed  with  the  efficacy  of 
war  to  accomplish  selfishly  ambitious  projects,  and  where 
the  God  of  the  heaviest  battalions  is  zealously  worshipped, 
few  facts  could  be  more  creditable  than  this  to  such  a 
virile  and  numerous  race  as  the  Chinese.  It  honours  not 
war  but  peace ;  it  glories  not  in  the  sword,  but  in  the 
printed  page  ;  it  magnifies  not  the  conqueror,  but  the 
sage  and  his  best  thoughts.  To  all  young  nations,  who 
would  win  a  place  in  the  sun  by  the  methods  of  the  mailed 
fist,  there  is  food  for  thought  also  in  this  :  "  That  probably 
the  most  distinguished  characteristic  of  this  ancient  Em- 
pire and  people  has  been  their  pursuit  of  intellectual 
development  and  education."  For  two  thousand  years 
they  have  made  scholastic  attainments  the  first  requisite 
for  admission  to  the  public  service  ;  and  scholars,  under 
the  patronage  of  the  Government,  have  for  centuries,  in 
every  province  and  district  of  the  Empire*  been  magnify- 


RACIAL  TRAITS  69 

ing  the  power  of  the  pen,  preaching  the  peaceableness  of 
learning  and  its  pleasant  fruitfulness. 

How  explain  such  an  attitude  towards  books  and 
teachers  ?  It  has  been  possible  only  because  of  the  fine 
mental  equipment  of  this  people.  And  so  it  is  a  hopeful 
sign  for  China  that  her  masses  have  long  honoured  edu- 
cation and  struggled  to  attain  it ;  that  her  leaders  have 
sacrificed  much  in  order  to  inaugurate  the  modernizing 
of  that  educational  system  ;  and  that  one  of  its  *' first 
fruits  "  has  been  the  grinding  in  pieces  of  a  dynasty,  selfish 
and  reactionary,  that  lay  like  an  incubus  upon  the  nation. 

Other  race  traits  both  physical  and  mental  could  be 
profitably  dwelt  upon  in  detail — their  absence  of  nerves 
and  hardiness  in  lightly  carrying  toil,  pain  and  hard- 
ship that  is  beyond  our  conception  ;  their  good-nature 
and  contentment,  approachableness  and  peaceableness  j 
their  frugality,  industry  and  economy  j  their  power  of 
swift  combination  for  passive  and  active  resistance ;  re- 
spect for  intellectual  and  moral  forces ;  conservatism  that 
makes  for  reverence  of  accredited  authority,  and  law 
observance ;  courtesy  and  friendliness  and  gratitude 
towards  those  whom  they  have  any  reason  to  trust, 
indomitable  perseverance  that  hangs  on  despite  the  most 
discouraging  circumstances,  and  a  wonderful  reliability 
in  all  matters  which  they  recognize  as  involving  an  obli- 
gation or  contract. 

A  host  of  witnesses  could  be  drawn  upon  to  testify 
to  the  all-round  qualifications  of  the  Chinese — given  a 
chance — to  play  well  their  part  in  the  great  days  to 
come.  But  four  must  suffice — a  missionary  statesman, 
the  British  creator  and  administrator-general  of  the 
Chinese  customs,  a  famous  war-correspondent  resident 
in  the  Far  East,  and  an  American  ex-Secretary  of  State. 

First,  Dr.  John  R.  Mott,  than  whom  there  are  few 
saner  or  more  keen  and  well-equipped  students  of  inter- 


'iO  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

national  conditions,  on  the  occasion  of  Princeton's  fare- 
well to  its  missionaries  to  China,  October  4,  1906,  said : 
"In  all  my  travels,  embracing  over  thirty  nations,  I  was 
more  impressed  by  China  than  any  other.  And  it  was 
not  the  vast  population,  not  the  great  antiquity  of  China, 
not  the  difficulties  and  obstacles  it  presents,  which  im- 
pressed me  most,  but  the  race  itself,  combining  as  it  does 
all  the  characteristics  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race— industry, 
frugality,  patience,  tenacity,  conservatism  and  mental 
vigour,  apart  from  which  qualities  no  nation  has  achieved 
permanent  greatness. " 

Second,  Sir  Eobert  Hart,  despite  experiences  in  the 
siege  of  Peking  enough  to  make  a  man  pessimistic,  said 
in  England  just  before  his  retirement :  "  I  am  a  great  be- 
liever in  China's  future.  It  is  a  very  big  country  and 
has  everything  it  needs  in  its  own  ring  fence.  The 
Chinese  are  a  most  industrious,  intelligent,  law-abiding 
and  easily  governed  people,  and  individually  they  re- 
spond with  wonderful  reciprocity  to  reasonableness.  The 
world  can  therefore  form  its  opinion  as  to  what  more 
than  four  hundred  million  people  may  do,  once  they  are 
organized  after  Western  ideas." 

Third,  Frederick  McCormick,  many  years  in  the  Far 
East  as  special  writer  and  reporter,  much  travelled  in 
China  and  long  student  of  things  Chinese,  thinks  that 
**the  Chinese  people — sober,  brainy,  industrious,  imagi- 
native— are  capable  of  now  adding  the  greatest  contribu* 
tions  to  civilization." 

Fourth,  listen  to  General  J.  W.  Foster,  authority  on 
American  diplomacy  in  the  Orient,  friend  of  China,  and 
valued  official  Adviser  to  the  Chinese  Government :  "It 
is  scarcely  an  exaggeration,  in  the  presence  of  its  history 
and  attainments,  to  assert  that  no  nation  or  race  of 
ancient  or  modern  times  has  stronger  claims  than  the 
Chinese  to  be  called  a  great  people." 


KACIAL  TRAITS  7l 

The  foregoing  facts  and  considerations  lead  us,  with 
Professor  J.  E.  Williams  of  Nanking  Union  University, 
to  say  :  **  We  may  confidently  expect  that  a  people  who 
abolished  feudalism  two  hundred  years  before  the  Chris- 
tian era,  who  have  never  known  caste,  who  are  more  free 
from  class  distinctions  than  any  country  in  Europe,  who 
are  more  democratic  in  common  relations  than  Americans, 
and  among  whom  representative  government  in  village 
life  has  been  indigenous  for  ages ;  and  who  have  shown 
in  their  history  as  great  genius  for  organization  and 
government  as  the  Eomans,  will  be  able  to  work  out  the 
problems  of  a  Republican  Government.  We  may  expect 
that  a  people  who  could  build  the  Great  Wall  (which 
General  Grant  said  represented  more  labour  than  all  our 
railroads  and  sky-scrapers)  in  a  period  of  ten  years,  two 
hundred  years  before  Christ — will  be  able  to  open  mines 
and  build  railways.  We  may  expect  that  a  people 
who  were  printing  a  thousand  years  before  Gutenberg 
(1400-1468),  who  were  sailing  by  the  mariner^  s  compass 
centuries  before  Columbus,  who  discovered  gunpowder, 
incubators  and  a  hundred  contrivances  that  were  only 
discovered  within  the  century  in  the  West,  will  be  able 
to  apply  modern  science  to  their  own  immeasurable 
mineral  and  agricultural  resources.  We  may  expect  that 
a  people  whose  business  honesty  is  notable  among  Chris- 
tian merchants  and  whose  genius  for  trade  and  finance 
excels  the  Jews,  will  be  able,  when  freed  from  the  age- 
long shackles  of  a  corrupt  piratical  government,  to 
develop  their  own  commerce  and  industries."  And 
when  this  race  has  been  evangelized  it  may  be  counted 
upon  to  present  to  the  world  the  same  type  of  religion, 
marked  by  the  same  sturdiness  and  robustness,  as  has 
characterized  the  followers  of  Calvin  and  Knox  in  the 
British  Isles,  New  England,  Holland  and  the  fastnesses 
of  the  Waldensian  Alps. 


72  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

Familiarity  with  the  sheer  native  ability  of  the  Chi- 
nese, not  only  considering  their  traits  massed  in  the  race, 
but  as  they  appear  in  the  persons  of  outstanding  individ- 
uals, causes  one's  respect  for  the  Chinese  to  mount. 
Take,  for  example,  four  men,  two  of  whom  are  still  with 
us— Li  Hung  Chang,  Chang  Chi  Tung,  Yuan  Shi  Kai 
and  Swen  Yat  Sen.  These  men,  for  native  forcefulness, 
for  intellectual  power,  for  diplomatic  success,  for  con- 
structive ability,  for  administrative  efficiency  under  well- 
nigh  superhuman  difficulties,  for  influence  over  scores  of 
millions  of  their  countrymen,  might  compare  not  unfa- 
vourably with  any  four  political  leaders  of  any  other  na- 
tion of  this  generation. 

Concerning  the  first  of  these  men,  Li  Hung  Chang, 
General  Grant  said  that  Viceroy  Li  impressed  him  as  the 
ablest  personality  he  had  ever  met.  Indeed,  in  a  notable 
review,  ex-Secretary  of  State,  J.  W.  Foster,  authority  on 
diplomacy,  has  this  estimate  :  ^'Li  Hung  Chang  was  not 
only  the  greatest  man  the  Chinese  race  has  produced  in 
modern  times,  but,  in  a  combination  of  qualities,  the 
most  unique  personality  of  the  past  century  among  all 
the  nations  of  the  world.  He  was  distinguished  as  a  man 
of  letters  ;  as  a  soldier  in  important  campaigns  he  ren- 
dered valuable  service  to  his  country ;  as  a  statesman  for 
thirty  years  he  maintained  a  recognized  preeminence 
over  his  countrymen  in  the  Oldest  and  most  populous  na- 
tion of  the  earth ;  and  as  a  diplomat  his  achievements 
entitle  him  to  a  front  rank  in  the  international  relations 
of  all  history.  The  last  one  hundred  years  have  pro- 
duced many  men  of  scholarship,  several  great  generals, 
a  number  of  statesmen  of  distinguished  ability  and  suc- 
cess, and  a  few  diplomats  of  high  rank  ;  but  no  one  of 
these  can  be  singled  out  as  having  combined  in  his  per- 
son all  these  attainments  in  such  an  eminent  degree  as 
Li  Hung  Chang." 


RACIAL  TRAITS  73 

Aud  the  followiDg  concerning  him  among  a  galaxy  of 
international  '^ great  ones":  '^The  ceremony  of  the 
coronation  of  the  Czar  of  Russia  brought  together  at  the 
ancient  Muscovite  capital  such  a  representation  of  the 
nations  of  the  earth  as  was  never  before  assembled  in  the 
world.  And  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  most  notable  per- 
sonage in  that  august  assemblage  was  Li  Hung  Chang, 
the  representative  of  the  'Son  of  Heaven,'  the  Emperor 
of  China.  In  length  of  public  service  and  of  the  myriads 
of  people  in  whose  behalf  it  was  rendered,  in  his  intel- 
lectual attainments,  his  unique  characteristics,  and  in  his 
commanding  personality,  the  Chinese  representative  was 
the  most  conspicuous  witness  of  the  young  Czar's  coro- 
nation.'' 

And  this  as  to  his  patriotism:  *'At  four  different 
times  in  his  career  he  was  stripped  of  his  *  yellow  jacket ' 
and  all  his  honours,  and  disgraced  in  the  eyes  of  his 
countrymen  by  the  irascible  Empress  Dowager,  yet  he 
remained  loyal  to  the  throne,  assured  that  she  knew  the 
value  of  his  services  and  would  again  bestow  upon  him 
the  honour  and  high  duty.  He  records :  '  Whenever 
there  is  trouble,  I  am  always  the  physician  in  attend- 
ance, but  instead  of  collecting  a  fee,  I  am  usually  subject 
to  a  fine  for  my  trouble  and  skill.'  " 

*^The  last  service  he  rendered  his  country  was  the 
crowning  act  of  his  long  career.  After  the  Empress 
Dowager  and  the  court  had  fled  from  the  capital,  as  the 
allied  armies  occupied  Peking  and  rescued  the  legations 
and  foreign  refugees,  the  nations  which  had  been  so 
grossly  outraged  instructed  their  diplomatic  representa- 
tives to  seek  the  punishment  of  the  guilty  ofiScials  and 
exact  full  indemnity  for  the  losses  sustained.  Notwith- 
standing Li  Hung  Chang  had  been  driven  with  angry 
words  from  the  presence  of  the  Empress  and  banished  to 
a  distant  province  at  Canton,  yet,  from  her  hiding-place 


74  CHINA  FKOM  WITHIN 

in  the  mountains,  she  summoned  him  to  Peking  to  meet 
the  angry  and  determined  diplomats,  aud  save  the  throne 
from  extinction  and  the  Empire  from  dismemberment. 

'^Although  the  disease  which  brought  him  to  the  grave 
was  rapidly  undermining  his  strength,  he  made  the  long 
journey  to  the  capital.  On  his  way,  at  Tientsin,  he 
makes  this  entry  in  his  diary  :  '  I  fear  the  task  before 
me  is  too  great  for  my  strength  of  body,  though  I  would 
do  one  thing  more  before  I  call  the  earthly  battle  over. 
I  would  have  the  foreigners  believe  in  us  once  more,  and 
not  deprive  us  of  our  national  life.' 

*^  His  labours  were  successful.  Incidentally  it  is  grati- 
fying to  Americans  to  know  that  in  his  diary  he  gives 
our  Government  credit  for  aiding  him  to  save  his  coun- 
try from  dismemberment  and  from  conditions  too  burden- 
some to  endure. 

*' Within  a  few  weeks  after  he  signed  the  protocol 
which  gave  his  country  peace,  he  ended  his  earthly  life 
in  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  his  age.  It  was  a  fitting  end 
to  a  stormy  career  of  the  greatest  of  Oriental  statesmen 
and  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  public  men  of 
the  world." 

Viceroy  Chang  Chi  Tung,  before  the  Boxer  War,  wrote 
"  China's  Only  Hope,"  a  book  that  was  as  much  a  clarion 
call  to  China's  millions  as  were  the  words  of  Peter  the 
Hermit  to  Mediaeval  Europe  ;  a  book  that  within  a  given 
time  had  a  larger  sale  than  any  other  on  record, — the 
Bible  alone  excepted.  During  the  year  of  its  publication 
several  million  copies  got  into  the  hands  of  the  future 
leaders  of  the  land  and  it  was  read  by  and  to  millions 
more.  In  that  book,  among  various  reforms  advocated, 
were  two  of  immense  significance  to  the  world  at  large, 
as  well  as  to  China — reforms  now  on  the  way  to  realiza- 
tion. One  was  the  sweeping  away  of  the  hoary  system 
of  Chinese  education  in  favour  of  the  Western  j  the  other 


RACIAL  TRAITS  Y5 

was  a  prohibition  of  the  production,  sale  and  use  of 
opium  within  the  Empire.  To  be  sure,  American  Mis- 
sionary Associations  were  behind  both  reforms.  They 
had  undauntedly  advocated  them,  and  had  steadily 
pressed  them,  giving  him  vast  support ;  but  the  credit 
for  officially  bringing  these  matters  before  the  attention 
of  the  Empress  Dowager  and  the  ruling  classes,  and  with 
all  the  force  and  6clat  that  the  ablest  living  viceroy  pos- 
sessed, and  pushing  them,  belongs  to  this  old  man,  who 
had  never  travelled  outside  his  country,  who  had  no  for- 
eign education,  who  spoke  no  foreign  language,  and  who 
was,  anomalous  as  it  seems,  irrevocably  bound  to  the 
past. 

Think  of  what  was  involved  in  these  two  changes 
alone.  China's  educational  system,  which  for  thousands 
of  years  has  been  individualistic  and  exclusive,  was  in- 
tended to  hold  the  Ship  of  State  to  her  ancient  moorings. 

The  new  educational  aims  and  ideals  planned  in  tho 
Imperial  edict  of  1901  implied  not  only  the  cutting  of 
those  moorings,  but  the  transference  to  another  kind  of 
ship.  It  was  intended  to  prepare  the  Chinese  for  chang- 
ing from  an  autocratic  form  of  Government  to  a  repre- 
sentative, and,  as  speedily  developed,  even  into  a  Repub- 
lican form. 

The  educational  task  was  staggering  in  its  vastness. 
It  involved  the  establishment  of  a  million  public  schools 
for  which  sixty-five  million  children  were  waiting. 
**  Probably  not  one  in  forty  of  the  children  of  school  age 
are  in  school,"  certainly  not  among  the  vast  mass  of 
peasant  villages.  In  1913  the  Government  maintaineC 
about  thirty-six  thousand  schools ;  imagine  county  nor- 
mals in  which  the  magistrates  were  trying  to  meet  this 
crying  need  for  teachers  by  turning  out  graduates  hold- 
ing certificates  for  a  three  months',  six  months',  nine 
months',  and  twelve  months'  course  in  "Western  learn- 


76  CHINA  FKOM  WITHIN 

ing'^ — teachers  of  English,  for  example,  "proficient  to 
the  letter  G  "  !  The  Mission  schools  have  one  hundred 
thousand  pupils  ;  but  this  edict  revealed  the  need  of,  and 
opened  the  opportunity  to  train,  ten  times  that  number 
to  become  Government  school  teachers  alone. 

The  Imperial  University  at  Peking  was  given  $1,425,000 
for  buildings  and  was  assured  of  nearly  $150,000  a  year 
for  its  annual  budget.  Shansi  University  as  a  Govern- 
ment school  was  provided  with  property  to  the  extent 
of  one-fourth  of  a  million  dollars.  The  Government 
soon  planned  for  four  great  University  centres  centrally 
located  in  North,  South,  East  and  West  China,  together 
with  thoroughly  developed  college  and  technical  schools 
for  each  province.  But  time  could  not  wait.  In  one 
province  the  educational  officials  offered  the  entire  charge 
of  the  public  school  system  in  eight  counties,  revenues 
and  all,  to  one  of  the  American  Mission  Boards.  In  an- 
other place  the  missionaries  were  asked  to  take  charge 
of  the  schools  of  the  entire  Province. 

And  to  get  an  adequate  conception  of  what  faced  Chang 
in  the  opium  reform  we  must  think  of  Eussia,  Germany, 
the  United  States,  the  British  Isles,  all  of  whose  popula- 
tions do  not  equal  China's,  but  whose  Governments 
would  make  the  most  powerful  combination  in  the  world, 
seriously,  determinedly,  using  their  united  power  to 
stamp  out  the  drink  traffic  and  the  white  slave  business 
within  their  borders ;  must  think  of  their  officers  going 
into  every  gin  still  and  brewery  and  brothel  that  had  not 
actually  closed  up,  and  executing  right  there  in  their 
own  establishments,  presidents  and  managers,  foremen 
and  bosses,  proprietors  and  Mesdames,  procurers  and 
procuresses ;  even  as  the  stern  old  viceroy,  when  the 
opium  raisers  refused  to  stop  growing  their  crops,  sent 
his  soldiers  to  the  fields  where  the  poppies  flaunted  their 
gorgeous,  seducing  beauty,  and  made  the  red  blood  from 


RACIAL  TRAITS  W 

the  severed  human  necks  miDgle  in  the  furrows  with 
the  scarlet  of  the  trampled  and  plowed  up  flowers. 

The  anti-opium  campaign  inaugurated  by  the  edict  of 
1906  was,  as  the  Loudon  Times  remarks,  *^  so  formidable 
that  the  strongest  of  Governments  might  flinch  before 
it/'  Yet  it  has  been  steadily  and  determinedly  main- 
tained. *^ China  has  not,"  to  quote  a  dispatch  of  Sir 
John  Jordon,  British  Minister  to  Peking,  ^^  hesitated  to 
deal  with  a  question  that  a  European  nation,  with  all  the 
modern  machinery  of  government  and  the  power  of  en- 
forcing its  decisions,  would  probably  have  been  unwill- 
ing to  face.''  At  a  time  when  she  was  urgently  in  need 
of  money,  she  was  willingly  facing  the  loss  of  an  enor- 
mous annual  opium  revenue,  ^'  a  far  more  serious  ques- 
tion,''  adds  the  British  Minister,  *^  at  the  present  state  of 
the  Chinese  national  exchecquer  than  the  similar  prob- 
lem with  which  the  Indian  Government  will  have  to  deal 
in  sacrificing  the  opium  revenue." 

Still  another  move,  as  necessary  as  far-sighted,  also 
fathered  by  Chang,  and  executed  by  him  in  conjunction 
with  other  viceroys,  was  to  refuse  to  obey  the  Empress 
Dowager,  in  her  command  to  slay  all  foreigners  in  the 
provinces  ruled  by  them  ;  not  only  so,  but,  through  mani- 
festoes issued  to  the  world,  to  deny  that  China  was  at  war 
with  the  nations  and  to  affirm  that  the  slight  unpleasant- 
ness at  Peking  was  ouly  a  local  disturbance  disapproved 
of  by  the  viceroys  and  governors  (who  were  the  real 
rulers  of  China).  Thus  did  he  remove  from  the  Powers 
all  ostensible  excuse  for  the  partition  of  China. 

Surely  such  gigantic  plans  and  the  setting  of  the  ma- 
chinery for  their  accomplishment  into  operation  required 
vision  and  will  and  braius  on  the  part  of  the  old  man. 

Yuan  Shi  Kai,  President  of  the  Republic,  like  the 
others  came  up  from  the  ranks.  For  years,  his  finesse 
thwarted  the  astutest  machinations  to  wrench  Korea  from 


78  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

the  suzerainty  of  China.  As  Governor  of  Shantung  he 
risked  his  life  to  save  our  missionaries ;  and  he  saved 
them.  Seated  in  his  yamen  at  Tsiuan  Fu,  where  he 
could  be  easily  struck  from  Peking  by  '' The  Venerable 
Buddha  "  (as  the  Empress  with  a  quaint  conceit  was  ac- 
customed to  have  herself  euphemistically  called),  he  yet 
defied  her  secret  telegram  to  kill.  And,  remember,  her 
power  was  absolute,  her  temper  brooked  no  opposition ; 
and  in  her  resourcefulness  and  wealth  and  imperiousness 
she  was  comparable  only  to  Catherine  of  Eussia.  He 
inaugurated  the  first  really  great  Provincial  University, 
under  the  scheme  of  Western  education  outlined  with  the 
aid  of  missionaries  by  Chang  Chi  Tung,  and  put  Eev. 
W.  M.  Hayes,  D.  D.,  of  the  American  Presbyterian  Mis- 
sion, in  full  charge  with  carte  blanche  to  choose  Christian 
professors,  trained  by  himself  and  other  missionary  edu- 
cators, as  faculty. 

During  the  Chinese  Eevolution  of  1912  he  played  a  role 
unique  in  history.  Bitterly  hated  by  the  reactionary 
Court  and  by  the  Eadical  Eepublicans,  as  being  not  ex- 
treme enough  for  either,  he  was  yet  the  only  man  who 
could  mediate  between  the  two.  Disgraced  and  dispos- 
sessed of  office  by  the  Eegent,  that  same  Eegent  had  to 
implore  him  to  return,  had  to  give  him  absolute  power, 
in  order  that  Yuan,  a  Chinese,  might  save  him  and  his 
incompetent  House,  Manchus,  from  destruction.  Yuan's 
life  and  that  of  his  family  were  for  months  endangered 
by  assassins  from  both  sides  ;  yet,  step  by  step,  he  forced 
this  dynasty,  entrenched  in  privileges  and  wealth,  peace- 
fully to  withdraw  from  power.  Where  else  in  dynastic 
history  is  the  like  recorded  ?  And  then,  step  by  step, 
he  forced  an  unwilling  South — fifteen  out  of  eighteen 
provinces  solidly  against  him — to  accept  him,  a  Northern 
man,  as  the  President  of  the  united  country. 

Herbert  E.  House,  inmate  of  his  household,  and  tutor 


RACIAL  TRAITS  79 

to  one  of  his  sons,  exi)resses  an  opinion  of  Yuan  Shi  Kai 
in  which  probably,  out  of  their  experience  and  studies, 
the  majority  of  the  older  missionaries  would  join.  ^^  He 
has  shown  himself  to  be  a  man  of  the  very  highest  order 
of  executive  ability,  a  broad-minded,  well-informed,  con- 
servative reformer,  just  and  friendly  in  his  attitude 
towards  foreigners,  a  sincere  patriot,  the  integrity  of 
whose  purpose  is  not  doubted  by  those  who  best  know 
him.  He  is  typical  of  the  men  now  coming  into  power 
who  are  to  reorganize  the  Empire  and  develop  the  al- 
most unlimited  resources  of  the  country." 

On  the  question  of  his  patriotism  (much  sneered  at  by 
those  who  for  sinister  motives  have  for  years  systemat- 
ically traduced  him  before  the  Chinese  people)  a  little 
side  light  is  thrown  by  Mr.  House  who  tells  how  one  day 
when  certain  Governments  of  Europe  had  consummated 
a  certain  deal  against  the  integrity  of  China,  a  deal  that 
in  the  long  array  of  subterranean  machinations  against 
the  welfare  of  China  would,  for  cynicism  and  iron-heart- 
eduess,  be  difficult  to  surpass,  Yuan  Shi  Kai  came  home 
in  great  despondency.  The  son  stated:  ^^My  father 
nearly  cried  this  morning ;  for  he  says  that  *  China  is 
finished.'  "  What  it  meant  for  the  father  to  approach 
crying  can  be  best  understood  by  those  living  among  the 
Chinese,  who  see  such  marvellous  concealment  of  feeling 
that  they  often  smile  and  laugh  when  announcing  the 
worst  personal  misfortunes,  the  most  poignant  bereave- 
ments and  sorrows.  Yet  the  day  came  when  this  man 
held  in  his  powerful  hand  the  destinies  of  more  millions 
of  human  beings  than  any  other  national  leader. 

Swen  Yat  Sen  may  or  may  not  have  erred  in  judgment 
when  he  allowed  himself  to  become  entangled  in  the  re- 
bellion against  the  Republic,  and  it  looks  as  if  he  had  not 
lived  up  to  the  standard  of  an  exalted  national  hero.  But 
that  cannot  eclipse  the  glory  of  his  earlier  achievement. 


80  CHINA  FKOM  WITHIN 

Where  else  is  it  written  that  an  unknown,  penniless  youth 
set  himself  to  pull  down  an  irresponsible,  tyrannical  dy- 
nasty, hated  and  feared  of  the  people,  but  so  entrenched 
in  privilege  and  power  as  to  make  popular  headway 
against  it  seem  hopeless — and  succeeded?  Where  else, 
that  on  the  ruins  of  that  long- established  throne  he  at- 
tempted to  set  up  a  representative  Government — and  suc- 
ceeded ?  But  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  end  he  must 
needs  labour  for  many  years  alone  and  in  the  dark. 
Hunted  from  city  to  city,  and  from  continent  to  conti- 
nent, by  the  sleuth-hounds  of  the  Empress  Dowager,  men 
high-salaried  and  unscrupulous,  workiug  for  the  imperial 
price  set  on  his  head,  he  never  quailed  or  faltered,  but 
agitated,  made  sentiment,  filled  men  with  his  hope  and 
conviction.  His  multifarious  experiences— trials  and  dis- 
couragements, dangers  and  escapes — were  stranger  than 
fiction  ;  yet,  through  it  all,  he  kept  his  balance  and  cour- 
age and  will  to  achieve,  perfecting  an  organization  of 
disaffection  unequalled  for  its  size,  secrecy,  completeness 
and  efficiency.  It  was  nothing  short  of  real  genius,  a 
genius  for  leadership,  insinuating,  persuasive,  fiery,  dy- 
namic— that,  against  heavy  odds,  enabled  him  to  win  the 
unbounded  allegiance  of  the  student  classes  and  confi- 
dence of  the  merchant  classes. 

The  loyal  support  given  him  by  the  latter  class  was 
witnessed  by  the  remarkable  manner  in  which,  for  Chi- 
nese, they  poured  out  their  gifts  for  his  propaganda, 
totalling  immense  sums  contributed  from  the  Chinese 
dwelling  both  inside  and  outside  the  Empire.  The  same 
support  from  the  former  class  was  witnessed  by  their 
wholesale  enlisting  in  his  armies,  and  putting  themselves 
at  his  disposal  to  use  as  their  gifts  and  training  warranted 
for  civil  duties. 

On  the  part  of  men  whom  he  approached  there  seemed 
to  be  an  abandon  of  committal  to  him  and  to  his  cause- 


RACIAL  TRAITS  81 

This  enabled  him  fiually  to  become  the  First  President  of 
its  Provisional  Republic.  Then,  though  the  idol  of  the 
people,  fifteen  provinces  solidly  behind  him  and  the  hearts 
of  the  leaders  in  his  hand — he  voluntarily  surrendered 
his  phice  to  a  rival,  in  order  to  cement  the  union  of  the 
North  and  the  South.  How  many  national  favourites 
have  in  spirit  or  fact,  during  all  the  course  of  history, 
measured  up  to  this  high  ideal  of  self-effacement  ? 

Such  traits,  thus  exemplified  in  the  lives  of  its  leaders, 
and  for  ages  characterizing  the  Chinese,  have  enabled 
them,  even  during  these  brief,  recent  years,  to  accomplish 
some  things  little  short  of  marvellous,  and  justifying 
sanguine  hopes.  Only  a  heroic  spirit,  dead  in  earnest, 
could  have  wrestled  for  these  reforms  against  such  an- 
tagonists as  hoary  custom,  the  inertia  of  heathenism,  and 
the  suspicion  and  hostility  of  officials  rich,  powerful  and 
reactionary.  The  problems  ahead  are  not  hopeless  of 
solution  in  view  of  these  earnests  of  victory.  Some  con- 
crete achievements  that  may  be  put  to  the  credit  of  the 
new  spirit  animating  the  men  of  Old  China  are  the  fol- 
lowing. 

The  imperial  examination  halls  have  been  torn  down 
and  for  them  and  their  system  have  been  substituted  in 
all  parts  of  the  land  technical  and  normal  schools,  col- 
leges and  universities  after  Western  models,  some  with 
English  and  American  faculties.  The  general  educa- 
tional plan,  drawn  up,  at  the  re(][uest  of  Government,  by 
three  American  missionaries,  requires  that  every  capital 
city  have  at  least  one  hundred  primary  schools,  and  all 
prefectures  and  districts  at  least  forty  and  every  village 
at  least  one.  Every  child  seven  years  old  shall  be  com- 
pelled to  attend  school.  Mission  schools  are  crowded 
with  the  sons  of  high  officials,  and  on  every  hand  have  to 
turn  away  more  pupils  than  they  receive. 

Ten  years  ago,  it  could  be  said:  '*In  matters  educa- 


82  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

tional  in  China,  it  is  of  special  significance  to  note  that 
schemes  of  magnitude,  which  hold  in  them  possibilities 
such  as  the  most  sanguine  never  contemplated  until 
within  the  past  decade,  are  now  come  to  be  regarded  as 
every-day  events  within  the  sphere  of  the  commonplace. 
Thus  we  find  notice  of  a  memorial  to  the  throne  from  the 
Board  of  Education,  asking  that  $70,000  be  devoted  to 
found  in  the  capital  a  normal  school  for  the  training 
of  women  teachers,  the  school  to  be  maintained  by  an 
annual  grant  from  the  Government  of  $40,000.  The 
feature  of  this  memorial  which  makes  it  essentially  of  the 
new  time  is  the  proposal  to  spend  year  by  year  so  con- 
siderable a  sum  in  providing  for  female  education. 

"  One  recalls  the  significant  statement  of  Yuan  Shi  Kai, 
shortly  before  his  retirement  from  ofBlce  as  Viceroy  :  *  The 
most  important  thing  in  China  just  now  is  that  the  women 
of  China  be  educated.'  " 

Many  thousand  students  are  studying  or  have  studied 
in  foreign  lands  in  order  to  give  China  the  advantage  of 
the  best  that  their  civilizations  afford. 

Some  six  million  Chinese,  thanks  largely  to  the  Amer- 
ican Mission  schools,  can  speak  English,  and  all  students 
are  eager  to  use  it  as  the  key  that,  par  excellence,  un- 
locks constitutional  liberty  and  ordered  progress. 

A  vast  number  of  text-books,  technical  works,  and 
treatises  have  been  translated  from  all  languages  into 
Chinese. 

The  day  of  the  modern  news  sheet  in  China  has  come. 
A  few  years  ago  there  were  but  two  native  newspapers 
on  Western  lines  in  China  ;  now  the  land  is  flooded  with 
dailies,  weeklies  and  monthlies,  reaching  many  millions 
of  readers,  and  their  contents  are  retold  to  many  millions 
more  who  cannot  read. 

The  number  of  post-ofBices,  and  the  mileage  of  tele- 
phones and  telegraphs,  increase  by  leaps  and  bounds. 


RACIAL  TRAITS  83 

Railroad  construction,  which  the  Government  a  few 
years  ago  so  abhorred  that  it  bought  China's  single  road 
and  dumped  it  into  the  sea,  is  planned  on  a  vast  scale. 
The  Government  has  floated  private  loans  to  the  extent 
of  five  hundred  million  dollars  for  great  trunk  lines.  An 
American  railroad  expert  says:  ''During  the  next 
twenty  years  more  miles  of  railroad  will  be  built  in  China 
than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world  ;  and  while  foreigners 
may  assist  in  furnishing  the  capital,  the  prime  movers 
will  be  the  Chinese  themselves,  who  will  insist,  as  far  as 
they  are  able,  upon  obtaining  substantial  control." 

A  beginning  has  been  made  of  the  revision  of  the  Chi- 
nese system  of  jurisprudence,  ''crude  and  almost  bar- 
baric," as  J.  W.  Foster  calls  it,  "despite  the  fact  that  it 
has  long  been  codified  and  compiled  in  forty  tomes,  each 
volume  being  devoted  to  a  specified  branch  of  law.'* 
This,  carried  out  in  good  faith,  will  release  China  from 
the  humiliating  exterritoriality  regime. 

A  beginning  has  been  made  of  city  sanitation,  in 
the  tearing  down  of  hoary  city  walls  and  the  remaking 
of  great  areas  inside  them.  Whoever  has  seen  the  mod- 
ern sections  of  Canton,  Shanghai,  Wuchang,  Peking, 
Tientsin — their  telephone  systems  and  electric  service  and 
asphalted  streets — after  having  waded  and  floundered 
during  the  rainy  season  through  the  narrow  thorough- 
fares of  an  ordinary  city — unlighted,  undrained,  unpaved, 
reeking  with  filth — will  say  this  is  marvellous  in  his  eyes. 

The  Government's  crusade  against  feet-binding,  though 
slow  of  progress,  is  bent  upon  freeing  the  feet  of  some 
two  hundred  million  women  from  pain  and  their  minds 
from  the  crampedness  and  littleness  that  accompanies 
the  bodily  curse. 

The  Western  Calendar  has  been  adopted. 

The  New  Testament,  called  the  "  Classic  of  the  West,*' 
has  come  into  use  in  many  Government  schools,  as  a 


84  CHINA  FKOM  WITHIN 

text-book  of  morals  side  by  side  with,  the  works  of  Con- 
fucius, Mencius  and  Lao  Tse. 

The  Government  has  made  war  against  idolatry,  in  the 
waging  of  which  officials  have  invaded  hundreds  of 
temples,  and  taken  away  and  broken  up  the  idols,  many 
of  which  have  become  mortar  in  Christian  buildings. 

Temples  have  been  turned  into  Goveinment  school- 
houses,  and  their  acres  recovered  to  the  state  from  rascal 
priests, — ignorant,  greasy,  lecherous,  tyrannizing — for 
the  support  of  its  schools. 

A  successful  revolution  has  been  carried  through  in 
the  most  ancient  of  empires,  against  a  most  powerful 
dynasty,  amid  a  most  conservative  people ;  and  that 
with  the  minimum  of  bloodshed  and  the  maximum  of 
protection  to  foreigners  and  their  compounds  scattered 
all  over  the  country. 

The  new  Government  has  been  es^tablished  through  the 
unparallelled  method  of  the  ruling  House,  after  tasting 
the  sweets  of  nearly  three  hundred  years  of  power  and 
wealth,  being  forced  to  abdicate  in  peace  and  without  a 
counter  royalist  revolution. 

A  courageous  attempt  has  been  made  to  introduce  fixed 
salaries  and  the  merit  system  of  office-holding  for  lower 
Government-officials,  as  a  substitute  for  the  age-long 
regime  of  ^^  no  salary  and  squeeze,^' 

The  Eepublic  has  been  maintained  for  fifteen  months 
(February  1912-May  1913),  ^4n  comparative  tran- 
quillity "  (as  the  London  Times  correctly  says),  in  the 
face  of  non- recognition  by  the  Powers,  although  at  the 
price  of  costly  special  concessions  (which  China  was  un- 
willing to  give),  in  Thibet,  Mongolia,  Manchuria  and 
other  parts  of  China  (rich  slices  aggregating  nearly  three- 
fifths  of  the  whole).  This  maintenance  has  been  done 
without  foreign  money  desperately  needed ;  loans  that  the 
Powers  were  attempting  to  force  upon  the  Eepublic  under 


RACIAL  TRAITS  85 

conditions  which  the  National  Parliament  rejected  as 
*  incompatible  with  China's  self-respect,  because  the 
creditors  assume  the  right  to  starve  a  nation  or  encompass 
the  destruction  of  its  Government,  when,  but  for  their 
outrageous  pretentions,  China,  without  difficulty  and  from 
independent  sources,  would  be  able  to  satisfy  all  her 
requirements. '*  It  has  been  done,  despite  the  fact  that 
the  Provinces  had  all  instituted  a  multitude  of  local 
reforms,  calling  for  vastly  increased  outlays,  as,  for  ex- 
ample, adding  on  to  their  budgets  regular  salaries  of  all 
officials  and  teachers,  these  enterprises— educational, 
reformatory,  administrative  and  commercial — requiring 
such  outlays  on  the  part  of  the  Provinces  as  to  make  im- 
possible their  forwarding  revenues  to  the  Central  Govern- 
ment which  had  been  accustomed  from  time  immemorial 
to  count  on  such  revenues. 

Internal  order  in  the  Republic  has  been  firmly  estab- 
lished by  successfully  quashing  a  rebellion  of  formidable 
proportions,  engineered  by  popular  and  influential  ultra- 
republican  leaders,  and  reported  to  be  financed  in  part 
by  a  foreign  power — which  rebellion  had  spread  through- 
out all  the  central  and  southern  Provinces. 

Religious  liberty  has  been  secured — one  of  the  first 
official  acts  of  the  Republic  being  its  promulgation,  as  a 
condition  of  the  respect  of  other  Governments  and  as 
a  corner  stone  of  permanent  national  strength.  Against 
such  a  commitment  the  Monarchy  had  set  its  face  like  a 
flint. 

/  The  debts  of  the  defunct  Monarchy  have  been  assumed,  [ 
its  members  being  pensioned  and  their  lives  safeguarded! 
— and  this,  despite  the  fact  that  the  Manchus,  by  their 
anti-foreign  policies  and  extravagant  folly,  had  left  the 
nation  (as  a  leading  vernacular  paper  said)  ^*with  no 
funds,  no  resources,  no  system  of  efficient  taxation,  no 
vi^bl^  revenues,  no  assets,  no  credit  j  and  had  saddled 


86  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

the  nation  with  a  '  regular  debt,'  so-called,  for  administra- 
tion purposes  of  seven  hundred  million  gold  ;  not  to 
speak  of  various  additional  debts,  notably  the  *  irregu« 
lar '  Boxer  indemnity,  which,  by  the  skillful  manipula- 
tion of  compounding  interest,  and  by  extensions  of  times 
of  payments  to  1937,  raised  the  total  Boxer  indemnity  to 
be  paid  to  somewhere  between  six  and  seven  hundred 
millions  of  gold  dollars."  *^ Christian^'  States  have  re- 
peatedly been  known  to  repudiate  not  only  their  own 
debts  but  those  of  their  conquered  enemies  as  well.  Not 
so  this  penniless  heathen  Eepublic. ' 

Government  edicts  under  the  Eepublic  have  appeared 
against  gambling,  and  in  some  sections  (as  in  Kwang 
Tung  Province)  the  vice  has  been  abolished  at  least  for  a 
season,  as  reported — though  it  is  the  darling  sin  of  all 
classes.  Various  schemes  of  regulation,  license  and  taxa- 
tion of  the  vice  all  having  failed,  the  Kwang  Tung 
legislature  enacted  a  prohibition  law  and  the  Governor 
enforced  it,  at  an  initial  loss  in  annual  revenue  of  seven 
million  dollars.  It  is  something  to  have  gambling  and 
prostitution  under  the  Republic  recognized  as  crimes, 
and  not  to  have  the  Government  dealing  with  them  in 
license  as  partner. 

The  actual  and  effective  suppression  of  opium -growing 
in  every  Province  at  a  loss  in  revenue  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  million  taels  a  year — what  a  gigantic  turn-over  this 
means,  the  stamping  out  of  the  opium  habit  which  is  the 
crying  social  evil  of  the  land,  and  which  was  forced  upon 
it  at  the  cannon's  mouth  by  a  Christian  nation.  What  it 
means  can  be  felt  in  part  by  a  Westerner  as  he  compares 
the  benefits  that  have  come  to  the  virile  Russian  villagers 
and  peasant  folk  from  their  Government's  vodka  prohibi- 
tion. But,  fine  as  that  is,  it  involves  only  one  hundred 
and  seventy  million  people ;  and  that  in  a  land  where 
tlie  Gove^'ument  is  so  rich  and  powerful  and  actually 


KACIAL  TRAITS  87 

autocratic  that  it  can  easily  work  its  imperial  will — in 
this  instance,  for  good. 

Protestant  Christianity  has  been  popularized  through- 
out many  sections  of  Chiua  because  of  the  sincere  and 
courageous  adoption  of  it  by  many  real  lovers  of  their 
country — among  them  many  prominent  leaders  of  New 
China— and  that  even  before  the  Revolution,  at  a  time 
when  it  was  banned  by  the  Monarchy. 

The  official  call  of  the  Republic  to  the  Native  Church 
(and  implicitly  to  the  whole  Christian  world)  to  pray  for 
it  on  Sunday,  April  27,  1913,  should  be  kept  in  mind. 
If  this  be  not  a  reform — in  view  of  what  the  Central 
Government  of  China  has  been — and  a  mighty  stride  for- 
ward in  real  progress,  then  it  is  hard  to  define  what  con- 
stitutes a  step  in  progress.  For  this  action  was  not  an 
"  astute  political  move  "  on  the  part  of  the  President  and 
his  coadjutors,  as  misrepresented  by  cynical,  carping 
political  critics  abroad.  The  movement  originated  offi- 
cially with  Mr.  Lu  Cheng  Hsiang,  a  staunch  Christian,  a 
member  of  President  Yuan's  Cabinet,  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  who  in  proposing  to  the  Cabinet  this  day  of 
prayer  said  he  did  not  wish  great  spectacular  meetings, 
but  rather  quiet  gatherings  of  the  Christians  everywhere 
in  their  regular  places  of  worship  on  the  Sabbath  desig- 
nated. 

Consider  the  situation  as  stated  in  the  words  of  Rev. 
W.  P.  Merrill,  D.  D.  : 

**But  now,  for  the  first  time,  a  nation  not  yet  Chris- 
tian has  definitely  asked  the  prayers  of  Christians  ; 
and  the  action  has  been  taken  so  simply,  with  such 
absolute  directness,  such  utter  lack  of  artifice,  as  to 
disarm  all  suspicion  of  hidden  motives,  or  adroit  at- 
tempts to  influence  the  political  action  of  the  Christian 
nations. 

"  I  am  fortunately  able  to  give  you  the  very  wording 


88  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

of  the  message  sent  by  tlie  Chinese  Government  to  all  the 
Provinces  of  the  Republic,  and  to  every  Chinese  city  in 
which  there  is  a  body  of  Christians  : 

*^  ^  Prayer  is  requested  for  the  National  Assembly  now 
In  session;  for  the  new  Government  j  for  the  President 
who  is  to  be  elected  ;  for  the  Constitution  of  the  Republic ; 
that  the  Government  may  be  recognized  by  the  Powers  ; 
that  peace  may  reign  within  our  country  ;  that  strong 
and  virtuous  men  may  be  elected  to  office  ;  and  that  the 
Government  may  be  established  upon  a  strong  founda- 
tion. Upon  receipt  of  this  telegram  you  are  requested  to 
notify  all  churches  in  your  Province  that  April  27th  has 
been  set  aside  as  a  day  of  prayer  for  the  nation.  Let  us 
take  part. ' 

^*  Am  I  making  too  much  of  this  matter  when  I  say 
that  it  means,  in  the  life  of  the  Church,  what  the  visit  of 
the  Greeks  meant  in  the  life  of  Jesus  ?  We  recall  the 
long  and  weary  years  during  which  faithful  men  laboured 
and  apparently  made  not  the  slightest  impression  upon 
the  impassive  and  immobile  civilization  and  people  of 
China.  Morrison  *  against  hope  believed  in  hope  '  keep- 
ing up  his  faith  only  because  he  believed  in  the  Living 
God,  with  whom  nothing  is  impossible.  Down  to  some 
fifteen  years  ago,  China  was  considered  the  stronghold  of 
paganism.  It  is  but  a  few  years  since  the  Boxer  move- 
ment threatened  to  drive  the  foreigners  and  their  mis- 
sions out  of  the  Empire.  And  now  Christians  are  in  the 
Cabinet,  and  in  the  recently  elected  National  Assembly  ; 
the  Provisional  President  is  a  man  of  pronounced  Chris- 
tian sympathies,  who  said  last  autumn,  to  a  group  of 
Christians,  ^  I  am  no  Christian,  but  I  admire  the  wonder- 
ful teachings  of  Christianity,  and  am  trying  to  live  by 
them,^  and  who  some  years  ago  issued  a  '  Primer  of 
Christianity '  that  the  Chinese  people  might  have  a  more 
intelligent  and  sympathetic  idea  of  the  religion  of  Jesus. 


KACIAL  TRAITS  89 

And  this  Government  now  sends  a  request  for  prayer,  not 
to  the  priests  and  temples  of  its  ancient  faiths,  but  to 
the  Christians  alone,  as  if  recognizing  in  them  the  vital 
power  of  the  nation  to-day." 

The  deep  significance  of  that  ^^call  to  prayer"  inheres 
in  the  fact  that  China's  best  and  truest  men — her  real 
leaders— realize  that,  as  Professor  T.  M.  Lindsay  says, 
^^  History  knows  nothing  of  revivals  of  moral  living  apart 
from  some  new  religious  impulse.  The  motive  power 
needed  has  always  come  through  leaders  who  have  had 
communion  with  the  Unseen." 

So  rapidly  has  the  reform  movement  advanced  in 
China  that  men  who  had  to  flee  the  country  ten  years 
ago  as  ultra- radicals  are  to-day,  by  the  advanced  reform- 
ers, regarded  as  reactionaries.  *^  China, "  says  J.  E.  Mott, 
"has  made  greater  progress  in  the  last  five  years  than 
any  other  country  in  the  world.  She  has  made  a  more 
radical  adjustment  to  modern  conditions  than  has  any 
other  nation  in  the  same  period  of  time.  For  a  nation  to 
pass  within  a  few  years  from  the  days  of  the  Crusaders 
to  the  twentieth  century  is  a  feat  of  mental  and  socio- 
logical gymnastics  not  devoid  of  danger.  Such  a  leap  is 
to  risk  failure,  and  failure  means  nothing  else  than  chaos.'' 
Yet  China  under  her  leaders  has  made  the  leap. 

As  Bishop  Maloney  puts  it :  "  The  most  capable  and 
populous  non-Christian  nation  has  really  turned  at  last 
into  the  steady  channel  of  reform  and  progress." 

Where  in  world  history  do  we  find  more  governmental 
moral  earnestness  than  that  displayed  by  this  youngest 
and  largest  of  Republics  in  her  attempts  to  cast  off  the 
whole  brood  of  hell-born  incubi  that  press  her  down  ? 

Indeed,  as  Dr.  A.  H.  Smith  says  :  "The  political,  in- 
tellectual, sociological  and  moral  renovation  of  China  and 
its  millions  is  the  mightiest  task  ever  undertaken  by  any 
people.    And  unless  the  history  of  the  past  is  itself  one 


90  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

great  illusion,  the  entrance  of  China  upon  a  new  national 
life  is  of  deep  and  permanent  significance,  not  to  the 
Far  East  alone,  nor  yet  to  Asia,  but  to  the  whole  in- 
habited world. '^ 

Verily  the  vastest  prize  on  this  planet  for  continued 
mastery  over  which  Satan  contends  is  China.  And  verily 
the  most  stupendous  single  task  that  faces  the  Christian 
Church  till  Christ  shall  come  again  is  the  bringing  of 
the  knowledge  of  the  True  and  Living  God  to  China. 


Ill 

The  Crises  of  China's  Ancient  Walled  Cities 
A  Study  of  the  Turning  of  the  Gentry  from  Idols 


in 

THE  CEISES  OF  CHINA'S  ANCIENT 
WALLED  CITIES 

EIGHTEEN  NINETY-FIYE  was  a  momentous  year 
not  only  for  far  eastern  politics,  but  in  world  his- 
tory. In  that  year  Japan  crushingly  defeated 
China,  and  made  manifest  that  she  had  entered  upon  a 
career  that,  ten  years  later,  was  to  enable  her  to  defeat 
Eussia,  at  that  time  reputed  to  be  the  most  powerful 
militaristic  nation  in  Christendom ;  and  that  in  another 
ten  years  was  to  enable  her  not  only  to  humiliate  Ger- 
many, supposedly  resistless,  but  to  drive  her  from  China 
and  spoil  her  great  schemes  in  the  Far  East. 

It  was  a  bitter  pill  for  China  to  swallow,  this  sudden 
emergence  of  pigmy  Japan  into  power  at  China's  ex- 
pense— China,  the  ''Middle  Kingdom";  China,  the 
teacher  and  elder  brother  and  patron,  not  only  of  the 
Nipponese  but  of  many  other  races  ;  China,  to  whom  kin- 
dred peoples  of  the  Orient  had  brought  tribute  from  time 
immemorial.  Well  might  her  leaders  feel  sore,  not 
merely  over  their  defeat  but  over  the  fact  that  their 
people,  scores  of  millions  of  them,  did  not  know  it ;  yea, 
did  not  even  know  there  had  been  a  war. 

When  this  war  had  revealed  the  weakness  of  China's 
Government,  and  that  it  could  with  impunity  be  outraged 
by  powerful  nations,  the  great  states  of  Christendom  began 
a  rapid  encroachment  on  China.  *'  For  political  as  well  as 
commercial  reasons,"  says  former  Minister  W.  W.  Eock- 
hill,  *Hhey  sought  to  partition  the  Empire  among  them 
by  the  creation  of  spheres  of  influence,  the  securing  of 

93 


94  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

strategical  bases,  the  buildiDg  and  operating  of  lines  of 
railway,  and  the  acquisition  of  vast  and  ill-defined  con- 
cessions over  the  whole  face  of  the  land.'' 

On  October  12,  1900,  Li  Hung  Chang  records:  "I 
have  learned  from  a  source  that  is  beyond  questioning 
that  the  Powers  have  determined  immediately  after  the 
capture  of  the  city  to  make  a  division  of  China  between 
them.  Yet  it  seems  that,  like  so  many  dogs  over  the  car- 
cass of  a  beast,  they  could  not  agree  over  their  respective 
shares.  It  was  determined  that  the  European  nations 
and  Japan  should  act  in  concert,  ignoring  the  United 
States.  This,  however,  was  not  found  to  be  feasible,  for 
first  England,  and  then  Japan  weakened.  The  trouble 
is  that  Japan  wanted  that  part  of  China  as  her  sphere 
of  influence  which  Russia  claimed  as  her  own.  Perhaps 
amidst  the  quarrelling  of  the  wolves  the  sheep  will  get 
away.'' 

However,  it  soon  became  painfully  manifest  that  there 
was  little  permanent  comfort  to  be  derived  from  the 
quarrelling  of  the  spoilers  of  the  flock ;  for  the  aggres- 
sions of  foreign  governments  continued  so  active  and  so 
fierce  that  it  finally  seemed  to  Li  Hung  Chang  "as  if  our 
own  gods  and  good  genii  had  forsaken  the  religion  of  the 
Middle  Kingdom,  and  departed  from  their  guardianship 
of  the  Throne." 

For  the  first  time  China's  leaders  began  to  realize  some* 
thing  of  the  tremendous  disadvantage  that  was  theirs. 
Self-satisfied,  they  had  for  centuries  gloried  in  their  self- 
sufficiency  ;  had  boasted  of  their  splendid  isolation, 
hemmed  in  as  they  were  by  the  barren  steppes  to  the 
north,  the  highest  of  mountains  to  the  west  and  southwest, 
and  the  vastest  of  oceans  to  the  east.  Now  it  came  to 
them  with  a  rude  shock  that  they  had  really  been  side- 
tracked while  Asia  all  about  them,  and  especially  Japan, 
had  been  rushing  forward  upon  the  main  track  of  the 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  95 

world^s  material  progress.  And  it  was  a  terrible  awak- 
eniug  to  see  Japau,  in  her  first  modern  trial  of  strength, 
thus  leap  into  power  and  prominence. 

Manifestly  China  could  no  longer  remain  aloof  from 
the  world's  life,  and  maintain  its  own.  To  save  itself 
it  must  become  a  wrestler  with  and  among  the  nations. 
And  yet,  to  whom  to  go  ?  and — what  to  seek  ?  Where 
the  sinews  of  strength  ?  China  was  like  a  Ship  of  State 
that  has  slipped  its  moorings,  and  without  pilot  or  chart 
or  port  of  destination,  was  adrift. 

The  immediate  effect  of  the  war  with  Japan  was  to  stun 
the  Chinese  statesmen.  Then  gradually  the  conviction 
possessed  them :  little  Japan,  heretofore  thought  haughtily 
of,  even  though  in  self-deception,  as  pupil  and  inferior 
state  ;  also  arrogantly  conceived  of  as  under  the  hegemony 
of  the  great  central  power,  even  if  not  payer  of  tribute  ; 
had  accomplished  what  it  had  only  because  of  secrets 
learned  from  the  West.  The  Chinese  would  learn  these 
secrets  too.  Then  began  such  a  frenzy  of  the  study  of 
Western  languages  and  law  and  literature ;  the  trans- 
lation of  the  best  Western  treatises  and  scientific  text- 
books ;  such  a  delving  for  their  technical  knowledge  in 
jurisprudence,  mining,  railroading,  electricity,  com- 
merce, economics,  newspaper- making ;  such  plans  for 
army  and  navy  expansion  as  in  its  sum -total  this  planet 
possibly  had  never  seen  before.  The  result  was  the  rang- 
iug  of  the  world  by  Chinese  students  and  official  deputa- 
tions to  find  their  best  in  all  departments  of  human  ac- 
tivity as  sources  of  power. 

This  was  a  bold  step.  Its  primary  importance  lay  in 
the  fact  that  it  was  a  practical  confession  of  the  failure  of 
Chinese  institutions.  Before  the  war,  the  Chinese  leaders 
not  only  saw  little  necessity  for  reform  administration, 
but  also  had  no  conception  of  the  weakness  of  their 
country  and  its  institutions  without  Christianity.     Li 


96  CHINA  FKOM  WITHIN 

Hung  Chang  voiced  the  conviction  of  literati  and  officials 
when  he  wrote  :  *^  I  have  no  need  for  Christ,  if  I  will  but 
follow  our  own  great  sage  and  philosopher.  I  feel  no 
personal  call  for  the  Christian  religion.  If  my  lot  were 
cast  in  England,  France  or  America,  I  should  want  to 
call  myself  a  Christian,  for  that  is  the  religion  of  those 
countries.' ' 

But,  despite  all  the  cynicism  and  cruelty  and  callous- 
ness of  the  West  j  despite  its  injustice  and  land-lust  and 
aggrandizement  for  national  glory ;  despite  the  assump- 
tion of  superiority  and  brutal  attempts  at  enforcement  of 
the  same  ;  despite  its  insatiable  hunger  for  trade  advan- 
tages and  colonies  and  coaling  stations,  there  came  to  be 
borne  in  upon  the  Chinese  investigators  that  much  of  the 
power  and  glory  that  these  Western  nations  possessed  and 
which  China  did  not  possess — that  which  made  them  to 
any  degree  admirable  or  to  be  copied — was  somehow 
wrapped  up  in  what  Li  Hung  Chang  called  **  the  religion 
of  those  countries. '^  Evidently  their  God  was  different 
from  China's,  just  as  Israel's  was  from  Babylon's ;  and, 
like  the  supposedly  all-powerful  ruler  in  the  presence  of 
the  fiery  furnace,  it  behooved  China  to  respect,  even  to 
investigate,  foreign  deities.  And,  indeed.  Western  na- 
tions asseverated  that  their  God  was  at  the  bottom  of 
everything  good  in  them.  Yet  it  is  always  to  be  remem- 
bered what  prejudice  against  the  Christian  religion  the 
Chinese  leaders  had  to  overcome  because  of  the  too  often 
harsh  and  unjust  and  utterly  un- Christian  actions  of 
Western  Governments  professing  it. 

Their  view-point  can  be  imagined  from  this  paragraph 
out  of  Li  Hung  Chang's  memorial  to  the  Throne  of  July 
23,  1900. 

*' Since  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  Tao-Kuang  the 
pressure  of  the  barbarians  on  our  borders  has  steadily 
increased,  and  to-day  we  are  brought  to  desperate  straits 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  9\ 

indeed.  lu  1860  they  invaded  the  capital  and  burned 
the  Summer  Palace  j  His  Majesty,  Hsien-Feng,  was  forced 
to  flee,  and  thus  came  to  his  death.  It  is  only  natural 
that  His  Majesty's  posterity  should  long  to  avenge  him 
to  the  end  of  time,  and  that  your  subjects  should  con- 
tinue to  cherish  undying  hopes  of  revenge.  But  since 
that  time  France  has  taken  from  us  Annam,  the  whole 
of  that  dependency  being  irretrievably  lost ;  Japan  has 
fought  us  and  ousted  us  from  Korea.  Even  worse  disas- 
ters and  loss  of  territory  were  to  follow  ;  Germany  seized 
Kiao-Chow ;  Russia  followed  by  annexing  Port  Arthur 
and  Ta  Lien  Wan  ;  England  demanded  Wei-hai-wei  and 
Kowloon,  together  with  the  extension  of  the  Shanghai 
Settlements,  and  the  opening  of  new  treaty  ports  inland  ; 
and  France  made  further  demands  for  Kuang-Chou-Wan. 
How  could  we  possibly  maintain  silence  under  such 
grievous  and  repeated  acts  of  aggression  ?  Craven  would 
be  the  man  who  would  not  seek  to  improve  our  defences, 
and  shameless  would  be  he  who  did  not  long  for  the  day 
of  reckoning.'* 

Listen  to  one  Viceroy  :  "  Foreign  Governments  say 
they  *  lease  *  our  lands.  Alas !  we  know  they  are  gone 
forever ! ' ' 

Listen  to  another :  *^How  splendid  a  thing  it  would  be 
if  our  ancient  motto  :  *  King  sik  tsze  chil '  ('  Reverence 
the  written  word  and  keep  it  holy,')  should  be  hung 
conspicuously  on  the  walls  of  the  various  Foreign  Of- 
fices ! " 

See  this  picture,  ironical  side-light  on  *Hhe  "Western 
Religion "  as  Chinese  officials  know  it.  A  Chinese 
statesman  of  highest  rank  is  surrounded  by  a  group  of 
foreign  diplomats.  He  asks  them  if  they  believe  the 
teachings  of  the  Jesus  Sage.  They  affirm  that  they  do. 
Then  he  opens  a  Bible  and  reads  :  **  Thou  shalt  not  covet," 
adding  :  "  If  you  believe,  why  do  you  not  practice?  '- 


98  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

And  finally  listen  to  the  despairing  wail  of  the  Empress 
Dowager :  "We  shall  have  nothing  left !  " 

The  inconsistencies  of  the  Christian  nations  did  not  fail 
to  attract  the  attention  of  the  Chinese.  A  great  mandarin 
notes  how  they  fight  among  themselves  and  cherish  most 
bitter  hatred  against  each  other.  He  records:  **The 
French  hate  the  Germans,  and  the  Russians  kill  the 
Jews,  but  they  are  all  Christians  when  they  come  to 
China."  And  he  refers  to  the  action  of  Great  Britain 
in  forcing  opium  on  the  Chinese  as  "one  of  the  worst  im- 
pediments to  the  progress  of  Christianity,"  with  this 
closing  comment:  "A  great  nation,  a  Christian  nation 
above  all  things,  has  given  this  awful  blight  to  the 
Middle  Kingdom.  What  are  our  people  to  think?" 
Naturally  they  thought  just  what  Li  Hung  Chang  thought 
out  loud  :  "  It  is  offensive  to  our  educated  people  to  know 
that  these  churchmen  are  sent  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
to  explain  to  us  the  nicest  way  to  live  and  the  happiest 
way  to  die.  '^ 

Try  to  see  the  situation  through  the  eyes  of  a  heathen 
Chinese  official.  He  saw  camped  in  his  land  "mission- 
aries"— many  of  them  supposed  to  be  paid  agents  of  for- 
eign governments — from  all  the  European  States  now 
at  war — missionaries,  British,  French,  Russian,  Italian, 
Belgian,  Portuguese,  German,  Austrian.  Whenever  he 
thought  of  these  men  as  a  class — and  he  had  to  think  of 
them  pretty  often — the  old  facts  drilled  into  him  from  his 
youth  rose  like  a  wall  to  separate  him  from  any  sym- 
pathy with  these  foreigners — the  old  facts  that  have  for  a 
hundred  years  been  such  powerful  factors  in  keepiog 
China's  leaders  prejudiced  against  Christianity.  Hear 
him  say  :  "These  foreigners  have,  by  iniquitous  wars  of 
conquest,  fastened  themselves  like  leeches  upon  China. 
At  the  mouths  of  foreign  cannon,  at  the  points  of  foreign 
bayonetSj  they  have  seized  vast  areas  of  Chinese  territory. 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  99 

These  foreign  men  and  foreign  guns  and  *  foreign  dirt ' 
(one  of  the  Chiuese  contemptuous  names  for  opium)  are 
bad,  bad  for  us  !  Must  not  their  religion  be  of  the  same 
kind?  What  can  be  expected  from  *a  foreign-devil 
Jesus  religion '  brought  by  tlie  filchers  of  our  territory, 
and  the  miners  of  our  bodies  and  morals?  ^'  And  from 
his  view-point,  according  to  his  light,  who  shall  say  that 
his  conclusions  are  not  sound,  his  logic  irrefutable  ? 

Eeally  can  the  Chinese  leaders  be  blamed  ?  So  much 
evil  against  which  they  vainly  protested  had  been  forced 
upon  them  by  the  nations  whose  names  are  associated 
with  Christ's — rum,  opium,  doctored  cigarettes,  mor- 
phine, war,  indemnities,  land  seizures,  foreign  domina- 
tion— that  they  naturally  were  suspicious  of  all  that  came 
from  the  West.  Whenever  they  were  given  the  oppor- 
tunity to  choose  what  they  would  receive,  they  were 
chary  of  choosing  even  so  good  a  thing  as  Western  re- 
ligion. They  saw  in  practice  what  they  had  little  means 
of  knowing  was  not  Christianity  ;  and  it  was  only  odious. 

So  bitter  was  the  rancour  and  hatred  aroused  in  the 
hearts  of  gentry,  literati  and  officials  against  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  because  of  its  apparently  indissoluble  as- 
sociation with  the  arrogant  meddling  of  powerful  and 
covetous  European  Governments,  that  Li  Hung  Chang, 
one  of  the  most  enlightened  and  open-minded  of  Chinese 
statesmen  could  once  say  :  '^  I  hated  the  foreign  religion 
more  violently  than  all  other  scourges  in  the  world  ;  and 
I  prayed  and  hoped  that  not  alone  would  the  Taipings 
be  destroyed,  but  that  earthquakes,  eruptions  of  moun- 
tains, and  terrible  fevers  would  make  the  Christian  na- 
tions without  a  man,  a  woman  or  a  child."  Later  that 
same  great  leader  became  convinced,  as  he  says,  that  "the 
Christian  religion  is  not  so  much  hated  in  itself,  but  that 
the  animosity  throughout  China  against  the  ^  Foreign 
Devils  ^  is  because  they  are  *  foreign,'    And  the  foreigner 


100  CHINA  FKOM  WITHIN 

is  disliked,  not  because  of  his  religion,  not  because  he 
may  be  the  agent  of  Jesus  Christ  or  a  follower  of  that 
great  man,  but  as  a  possible  enemy  to  the  political  and 
industrial  independence  of  the  country.'' 

Still  later  Viceroy  Li  Hung  Chang  says  that  slowly  the 
gentry  began  to  make  clean-cut  distinctions  between  what 
he  terms  '*  Catholic  priests  as  paid  agents  of  European 
Governments,  catspaws  for  their  policies  of  encroach- 
ment, and  the  American  Protestant  missionaries. "  The 
situation  began  gradually  to  clear  up  in  the  minds  of  the 
gentry.  But  even  so,  it  is  one  of  God's  good  miracles 
that,  having  hated  the  foreigners  with  a  perfect  hatred, 
and  having  shunned  their  religion  as  one  would  contact 
with  a  leper,  the  gentry  should  now  be  turning  from  the 
idols  in  which  they  had  trusted,  and  opening  their  walled 
cities  to  the  Gospel. 

And  who  are  the  gentry  ?  There  are  two  preponder* 
ating  classes  in  China.  The  gentry  are  the  people  (ex- 
clusive of  the  nobility)  of  good  position  and  means,  con- 
stituting the  merchant,  literary  and  official  classes — the 
real  rulers  of  China.  As  distinguished  from  the  peas- 
ants, living  in  innumerable  mud  villages,  they  are  the 
indwellers  of  the  great  walled  cities, — the  administrative 
centres  of  empire — elegant  (after  Chinese  standards), 
learned  in  their  learning  and  glorying  in  its  degrees, 
rich,  powerful,  self-sufftcient,  reactionary.  These  aristo- 
crats have  constituted  a  powerful  barrier  to  the  progress 
of  the  Gospel,  spurning  it — themselves  another  "great 
wall  of  China,"  but  vaster  than  the  famed  one  and  un- 
speakably more  impressive  in  the  bulk  of  their  pride, 
exclusiveness,  lofty  pretensions,  contempt,  and  hatred  of 
the  foreign  devils. 

And  the  walled  cities  of  China  !  Who  has  language 
adequate  to  suggest  their  meaning — their  life  for  millen- 
niums past  and  their  potentialities  for  the  future !    These 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  101 

seats  of  Satan,  hoary,  some  of  them,  before  America  was 
discovered. 

And  what  more  fascinating  than  the  walls  that  enclose 
them — huge,  gray,  grim,  their  very  mystery  challenging 
solution  !  And  many  a  city,  sitting  like  a  queen — in  the 
midst  of  a  great  plain, — is  well  calculated  to  pique  the 
curiosity  because  of  those  encompassing  walls  that  hide 
the  life  within.  They  intimate  mysteries  that  the  human 
spirit  would  fain  unravel.  To  the  uninitiated  they  are 
not  only  tantalizing,  but  altogether  bafling.  For  cen- 
turies these  massive  walls  of  China^s  cities  have  in  silence 
looked  down  upon  the  multiplied  sorrows  of  her  children 
— flood  and  famine,  drought  and  plague,  rebellion  and 
massacre,  idolatry  and  witchcraft,  ignorance  and  super- 
stition, deceit  and  fear,  squalor  and  vice — all  grinding 
the  face  of  the  poor  in  a  woe  that  is  beyond  words.  For 
centuries  the  people,  seeking  soul-rest  and  finding  none, 
have  surged  through  these  frowning  portals — their  own 
religions  pitiless  and  impotent  to  answer  them. 

And  to-day  these  people  out  of  their  helplessness  in- 
articulately cry  :  "  To  whom  shall  we  go  ?  ^^  They  are 
perplexed,  distressed  ;  the  old  spiritual  foundations  are 
breaking  up  ;  and  they  will  turn  in  the  direction  that 
offers  them  succour  and  soul- peace.  Now,  for  the  first 
time,  some  seventeen  hundred,  we  are  told,  of  China's 
great  walled  cities  invite  the  Gospel,  in  the  sense  that 
they  are  at  least  open  to  receive  it.  Only  a  few  months 
ago  had  the  time  arrived  when  Li  Yuan  Hung,  Vice- 
President  of  the  Republic,  entertaining  the  Mott  party, 
could  urge  them  to  persuade  the  Home  Church  to  occupy 
these  cities,  and  to  do  it  at  once. 

It  is  hard  indeed  to  realize  that  these  centres  of  exclu- 
siveness,  of  reaction,  of  anti-foreignism — all  seats  of 
power — are  at  last  open  ;  and  that  their  resident  gentry 
are  turning  towards  the  living  God.     Those  portals  that 


102  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

until  recently  were  closed  in  sullen  pride  and  haughty 
resentment  against  ** Western  Barbarian  intrusion"  are 
now  flung  wide  open  to  the  missionary.  It  is  scarcely 
believable  that  high  of&cials  are  everywhere  sympathet- 
ically examining  Christianity.  *'  Eager  for  better  gov- 
ernment, a  better  education,  a  better  economic  system, 
China's  leaders  are  also  turning  from  her  ancient  super- 
stitions and  seeking  a  new  faith.  Already  there  are  men 
among  their  most  influential  officials  who  say,  *The 
greatest  religion  in  the  world  is  that  of  Jesus  Christ.'  " 
A  prominent  general  says  :  *'  We  want  to  know  what 
Jesus  wants. "  The  Vice-President  Li  Yuan  Hung  says : 
'*  Jesus  is  better  than  Confucius  ;  we  welcome  the  Amer- 
ican I*rotestant  missionary  to  proclaim  Him  ! " 

Perhaps  some  will  say  that  such  testimony  from  Chris- 
tian or  Christianity-favouring  officials  may  be  discounted 
as  being  peculiar  to  the  more  enlightened  and  tolerant 
centres.  But  here  is  a  testimony,  one  out  of  many  from 
missionary  lips,  from  far-off  Chen  Tu  of  West  China,  by 
the  late  Eev.  Samuel  Pollard.     He  says  : 

"In  the  years  gone  by,  the  officials  in  the  Province  of 
Yunnan,  where  I  have  spent  a  quarter  of  a  century,  were 
either  hostile  or  coldly  indifferent  to  Protestant  mission- 
ary work.  Now  and  again  a  minor  official  was  a  friend 
of  the  Westerner,  but  we  never  dreamed  in  those  days  of 
mandarins  attending  Christian  services.  Now,  however, 
the  highest  officials  in  the  Province  are  frequently  listen- 
ing to  Christian  appeals  and  encouraging  those  under 
them  to  follow  out  the  high  ideals. 

*^  A  short  time  ago  a  mission  of  ten  days  was  held  in  a 
large  city  in  the  northeast  of  Yunnan  and  the  attend- 
ances numbered  thirteen  thousand.  The  officials,  pro- 
fessors in  Government  schools,  heads  of  police,  and  others, 
nearly  all  accepted  invitations  to  be  present,  and  several 
made  speeches  commending  the  work  of  the  missionaries. 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  103 

*^  In  Yuunan  Fn,  the  capital  of  the  Province,  and  one  of 
the  most  beautifully  situated  cities  of  the  whole  of  China, 
for  thirty  years  men  and  women  missionaries  have 
plodded  on  with  very  little  success.  Now  conversions 
are  frequent,  services  are  crowded,  workers  are  in  good 
heart  and  the  name  of  Jesus  is  highly  respected  by  many 
who  are  outside  of  the  churches.  Years  ago  in  that 
beautiful  city,  I  woke  up  one  morn  to  find  the  legend 
written  across  my  front  door  *  Jesus  is  a  Devil,  therefore 
Foreign  Devils  worship  Him.'  How  changed  it  all  is. 
Those  were  days  of  great  up-hill  work.  A  few  of  us  held 
a  half-night  of  prayer  and  there  came  a  promise  to  us 
that  we  should  see  thousands  of  people  converted.  Be- 
fore many  years  there  may  be  a  Christian  Church  in 
Southwest  China  of  half  a  million  members.  When  years 
ago  we  admitted  two  men  into  the  Church  in  one  day  we 
were  greatly  elated  and  rejoiced.  One  afternoon  recently 
in  one  village  centre  alone  a  hundred  and  three  men  and 
boys  and  seventy-three  women  and  girls  were  baptized. 

**In  Tali  Fu,  West  Yunnan,  where  the  Panthay  rebels 
had  the  seat  of  their  government,  about  forty  years  ago, 
missionaries  laboured  for  thirty  years,  and  did  not  see 
thirty  converts.  Now  the  people  come  in  crowds,  and 
on  one  occasion  more  people  were  baptized  than  in  the 
previous  thirty  years.     God  is  giving  the  increase." 

Several  years  ago,  in  company  with  my  honoured 
senior  colleague,  the  Eev.  W.  M.  Hayes,  D.  D.,  I  visited 
such  a  walled  city,  said  to  be  ancient  before  the  discovery 
of  America,  one  of  the  important  county  seats  in  our 
station  field.  The  natural  importance  of  this  place  as  an 
administrative  centre  is  enhanced  by  the  fact  that  it  is 
located  on  the  German  railroad.  The  inveterate  preju- 
dice of  its  inhabitants  against  foreigners  was  quite  beyond 
belief.  It  was  probably  increased  by  the  fact  that  the 
Germans  occupied  their  city  until  after  the  defeat  of 


104  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

Eussia  by  Japan.  These  city  folks  were  supposed  to  be 
impervious.  A  German  Protestant  Mission  and  the 
Catholic  Mission,  neither  lacking  in  learning,  experience, 
or  ability,  or  in  funds  to  push  the  work,  had  tackled 
them.     Both  had  been  frozen  out. 

The  gentry  there  had  seen  the  Bible  translated  into 
Kwan  Wha  (the  vernacular).  As  trash  beneath  their 
notice,  they  had  turned  up  their  noses  at  it,  though  the  lan- 
guage of  the  translation  was  what  they  all  spoke,  and  it 
was  excellently  done.  They  despised  it  because,  forsooth, 
it  was  not  put  into  Wen  Li.  The  moment  they  saw  the 
New  Testament  printed  in  the  ordinary  ^'  talk  language," 
they  cast  it  aside.  Wen  Li  is  ''high"  stilted  Chinese, 
abbreviated  and  intensely  idiomatic.  It  was  as  if  you 
would  insult  an  American  by  offering  him  the  American 
Eevision,  instead  of  a  Bible  in  the  language  of  Beowulf. 
Their  pride  of  scholarship  in  the  Chinese  classics  had 
run  well-nigh  mad. 

But  several  of  our  Christian  gentry  from  the  country 
had  established  themselves  in  business  in  that  city.  They 
are  men  of  sturdy  faith  and  prayer-power  ;  they  preached 
as  they  did  business.  And  they  expected  to  do  some- 
thing for  God.  As  a  result  of  their  witness,  the  younger 
gentry,  realizing  that  these  men  had  something  that  they 
did  not  possess,  were  willing  to  fraternize  with  them, 
coming  often  to  visit  and  more  and  more  to  learn 
*Hhe  Doctrine."  As  their  eyes  gradually  opened  to  the 
light  that  streams  from  Christ,  and  as  they  began  to 
understand  some  of  the  multitudinous  corollary  blessings 
that  flow  from  the  Cross,  a  profound  dissatisfaction  with 
the  old  order  grew  up  in  them.  They  cursed  it — its 
blindness,  its  turpitude,  its  hopelessness,  its  lifelessness. 

Things  developed  rapidly.  Even  two  years  before  the 
establishing  of  the  Eepublic,  an  influential  family  of 
officials  who  had  charge  of  a  Government  school  for  boys 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  105 

hired,  in  open  defiance  of  the  Manchu  Government's  in- 
structions, two  of  our  Christians  as  teachers,  who  daily- 
expounded  the  Scriptures  in  the  school.  From  that 
family  one  brother  has  become  a  zealous  evangelist,  and 
out  of  that  school  of  thirty  boys  have  come  many  Chris- 
tians and  inquirers. 

Another  family  of  gentry  of  four  brothers  and  a  father, 
all  ofi&cials,  have  established  a  girls'  school  in  their  com- 
pound, with  one  of  our  best  women  Christians  as  teacher. 

We  have  sent  Bible  women,  at  the  request  of  such 
families,  to  instruct  their  women,  who  have  jDroved  eager 
learners,  and  have  received  their  ** Doctrine  Teachers" 
most  cordially. 

Imagine  what  it  means  that  these  people  should  pro- 
pose that  we  unite  with  them  in  establishing  a  boys' 
school,  in  which  :  1.  They  would  furnish  the  teacher  of 
the  Chinese  classics  and  we  the  teacher  of  Western  learn- 
ing. 2.  We  would  make  the  choice  of  books  to  be  used 
in  the  union  school.  3.  At  least  one- fourth  of  the  course 
would  be  devoted  to  the  teaching  of  Christian  subjects. 

Repeatedly  I  have  accepted  the  invitation  of  the 
magistrate  to  speak  before  his  official  schools,  especially 
before  the  normal  school,  where  hundreds  of  young  men, 
in  courses  of  six  months,  nine  months,  one  year,  and  two 
years  are  hurriedly  trying  to  fit  themselves  to  meet  the 
needs  of  schools  being  opened  by  the  Republic, — a  rare 
chance  to  preach  Christ  and  distribute  tracts  and  aid  in 
the  moulders  of  Chinese  thought. 

Christians  in  that  city  have  steadily  multiplied  from 
the  gentry  ranks.  I  have  taken  pains  that  all  be  baptized 
by  the  native  pastor  of  a  near-by  country  church. 

There  have  been  two  especially  interesting  and  helpful 
human  factors  in  this  development. 

The  gentry  have  seen  in  their  midst  the  superiority  of 
Christian  schools  and  teachers.     It  has  been  as  eye-open- 


106  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

iDg  as  humbling.  They  have  been  profoundly  impressed 
by  the  fact  that  our  Christian  system  produces  students 
with  usable  knowledge  at  their  command,  better  than 
any  of  which  they  had  conceived.  Our  teachers  know 
geography,  mathematics,  calisthenics,  music,  and  many 
other  things  involved  in  the  idea  of  ''Si  Wen"  (West- 
ern learning).  It  commands  their  respect  that  the  dis- 
trict magistrate  sends  his  teachers  to  our  Chinese  teach- 
ers to  learn  singing,  setting-up  drill,  arithmetic,  and  to 
get  a  little  peep  into  world-doings.  Above  all,  these  men 
have  character  and  are  to  be  trusted.  And  what  that 
means  can  be  understood  only  by  the  missionary  long 
resident  in  heathenism. 

Then  Christianity  has  brought  to  many  of  the  gentry 
of  that  city  a  new  sense  of  the  value  of  girls  and  the 
dignity  and  worth  of  educated  women.  One  of  the  lead- 
ers there  confided  to  me  that  the  thing  that  has  impressed 
him  more  than  all  else  with  the  desirability  and  satis- 
fyingness  of  the  Christian  religion  was  an  episode  that 
he  witnessed  as  a  guest  in  our  home, — the  baptism  of  our 
youngest  daughter.  Such  unexpected  and  humble  means 
can  the  Holy  Spirit  use  to  reach  a  man's  heart  and  to 
help  open  a  city.  The  ceremony  was  performed  by 
Dr.  Hayes  in  the  presence  of  this  heathen  man  and  a  few 
missionary  friends  "refugeeing''  with  us  during  troub- 
lous revolution  days.  To  think  that  he  and  others 
should  be  invited  from  a  distance  for  the  sake  of  a  girl 
baby ;  that  Dr.  Hayes  should  plan  his  work  in  another 
city  so  as  to  be  able  to  come  and  administer  this  sacra- 
ment ;  quite  overwhelmed  him  with  a  changed  conception 
of  life.  The  music,  the  presence  of  foreign  ladies,  cul- 
tured, and  honoured  of  men  ;  the  brooding  peace,  the 
simplicity,  dignity,  and  solemn  beauty  of  the  service; 
touched  the  inner  chords  of  his  nature. 

His  new  grip  on  life  that  has  stirred  him  to  do  some- 


THE  CRISES'OF  THE  CITIES  107 

thing  for  others  has  been  manifested  in  his  helping  ns  to 
open  a  Christian  Middle  School  for  boys  in  rooms  on  hig 
own  compound, — Christian,  I  say,  because  two  of  our 
ablest  Christian  teachers  have  been  employed  in  his 
school.  The  course  conforms  to  our  Mission  school  cur- 
riculum ;  compulsory  morning  and  evening  worship  ob- 
tains ;  also  Sabbath  worship,  the  school  marching  fore- 
noon and  afternoon  in  a  body  to  the  chapel.  And  the 
native  pastor  is  now  the  welcome  guest  and  presiding 
good  genius  there  over  it  all.  And  remember  that  the 
pupils  are  mostly  boys  out  of  heathen  families.  Further 
to  prove  his  interest  mine  host  has,  at  considerable  ex- 
pense, outfitted  the  school  with  furniture,  maps,  charts, 
etc.  J  and  he  hopes  to  build  and  run  on  similar  lines  a 
girls'  school  in  another  yard  of  his  compound. 

In  addition  to  this,  he  has  established  a  reading-room 
in  the  city,  modelled  after  the  one  in  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
connected  with  our  Tsingtau  Church,  where  the  ^lite  of 
his  clan  and  friends  can  come  and  leisurely  soak  in  the 
Christian  literature  secured  through  us.  As  a  result  of 
his  aroused  interest  and  that  of  his  friends,  the  East 
Suburb  Chapel  cannot  hold  the  Christians  who  now  at- 
tend the  meetings. 

Recently  we  called  on  the  magistrate  to  invite  his  co- 
operation in  erecting  a  new  church  building.  As  things 
are  in  China,  he  could,  if  he  so  desired,  instantly  nip  the 
project  in  the  bud,  especially  as  this  is  a  Chinese  church, 
not  a  foreign  mission  affair.  He,  however,  took  great  in- 
terest in  the  matter,  and  promised  a  generous  subscrip- 
tion, and  issued  a  proclamation  asking  the  business  men 
to  contribute.  His  wife  and  mother  are  Christians.  His 
good -will  is  partly  due  to  their  interest  and  partly  to  the 
fact  that  years  ago  he  was  a  pupil  of  Dr.  Hayes,  the  in- 
fluence of  whose  able,  scholarly,  and  consecrated  witness 
is  with  him  still. 


108  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

After  talking  with  him  several  times  about  establishing 
an  official  school  for  the  daughters  of  the  gentry,  he  has 
finally  opened  one.  His  wife  and  mother  act  as  patron- 
esses, and  he  has  called  a  fine  Christian  woman  of  our 
choice  as  the  lady  teacher  of  that  school.  Unbound  feet 
are  a  sine  qua  non  of  entrance,  and  the  school  is  full  to 
its  capacity. 

Though  used  to  surprises  in  this  city,  one  of  the  biggest 
came  when  mine  host  and  the  magistrate,  speaking  for 
several  of  the  leading  gentry,  asked  me  to  accompany 
them  to  the  First  National  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Convention,  held 
in  Peking,  December,  1912.  It  was  a  great  venture  for 
them.  And  the  rich  fruitage  of  that  convention,  not 
only  in  the  hearts  of  the  gentry  of  this  city,  but  of  many 
rich  and  influential  heathen  in  other  centres  now  for  the 
first  time  face  to  face  with  the  truth  of  Christ — who  can 
calculate? 

And  this  is  the  city  that  only  a  few  months  ago  was 
lorded  over  by  a  peasant-squeezing,  queue- wearing  Man- 
chu  official  of  the  hopeless  old  regime.  During  the 
revolution  he  was  seizing  even  our  Christian  schoolboys 
and  shutting  them  up  in  a  foul  prison  for  the  crime  of 
cutting  their  queues.  When,  after  repeated  and  fruitless 
attempts,  I  was  at  last  able  to  get  in  to  them,  I  found 
them  chained,  hand  and  foot,  in  a  sitting  posture,  in  that 
low,  dirty  den  ;  their  families  were  distressed  beyond 
measure,  some  of  their  women  folk  nearly  dying  of  anx- 
iety and  fear.  In  an  age-long,  sin-encrusted  gentry- 
centre,  what  hath  God  wrought ! 

Personally  I  have  had  surprisingly  pleasant  and  grati- 
fying relations  with  these  gentry,  both  in  their  homes, 
and  in  their  coming  to  visit  me.  As  they  have  learned 
*4he  Doctrine,"  they  have  invariably  helped  with  their 
money  and  with  the  use  of  their  compounds  for  schools 
and  places  of  meeting.     Would  it  not  seem  strange  in 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  109 

America  for  old  men,  all  their  life  long  hostile  to  the 
Gospel  (through  the  prejudice  of  ignorance),  men  who 
had  scarcely  ever  been  away  from  home  (even  though 
they  were  men  of  learning  in  their  own  land),  suddenly 
resolving  to  take  a  long  journey  and  dwell  weeks  at  their 
own  expense,  in  a  strange  city,  just  to  learn  the  ^*  Jesus 
Doctrine  ^ '  and  carry  it  back  to  their  own  people  I  Such 
is  now  the  situation  in  China.  And  in  every  section  the 
same  wonderful  workings  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  those 
witnessed  in  the  walled  centres  of  my  Province,  can  be 
duplicated. 

To-day  missionaries  all  over  China,  through  like  ex- 
periences, are  profoundly  impressed  with  the  present  op- 
portunity to  reach  the  upper  class  Chinese.  Great  cities 
everywhere  are  eager  to  receive  the  Gospel,  the  gentry 
and  of&cials  being  ready  to  receive  and  listen — if  the 
Church  will  now  preach  to  them.  The  following  is  a 
typical  appeal.  The  Bishop  of  Hankow  recently  re- 
ceived a  petition  from  over  four  hundred  leading  men, 
in  which  they  said  :  "If  Christianity  can  do  for  China 
what  it  has  done  for  America,  we  are  going  to  have  it, 
and  on  that  ground  we  apply  to  you  to  send  men  up  to 
our  district  to  preach  the  Christian  religion. '^ 

Think  of  the  proclamations  posted  in  1900  by  the  For- 
eign Ofi&ce  of  the  Chinese  Government :  '*  Now  that  all 
foreign  churches  and  chapels  have  been  razed  to  the 
ground,  and  that  no  place  of  refuge  or  concealment  is 
left  for  the  foreigners,  they  must  unavoidably  fly  in 
every  direction.  Be  it  therefore  known,  .  .  .  that 
any  person  found  guilty  of  harbouring  foreigners  will 
incur  the  penalty  of  decapitation.  For  every  male  for- 
eigner taken  alive  a  reward  of  fifty  taels  will  be  given ; 
for  every  female  forty  taels,  and  for  every  child  thirty 
taels.'' 

And  then  picture  the  following  scene  of  last  year  in  that 


110  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

same  conservative  Peking.  Special  Gospel  services  were 
held  at  the  invitation  of  high  officials  for  the  presenta- 
tion of  Christ  to  the  leaders  of  the  city  life.  Even  Presi- 
dent Yuan  Shi  Kai  received  the  workers,  while  the  Vice- 
President  of  the  Eepublic,  General  Li,  gave  the  evangelists 
a  special  luncheon,  after  which  they  were  asked  to  ad- 
dress his  family  upon  "Christianity  as  the  hope  of 
China."  The  Government  allowed  the  evangelistic 
meetings  to  be  held  in  a  pavilion  in  the  old  Forbidden 
City  directly  in  front  of  the  imperial  palace,  from  which 
in  1900  the  Empress  Dowager  directed  the  murderous 
Boxer  attack  against  foreigners  and  Christians.  It  is 
also  next  the  altar  where  the  Emperor  used  to  worship 
the  spirits  of  the  land.  There  audiences  of  three  thou- 
sand and  even  four  thousand  men  gathered  to  hear  the 
Gospel.  Meetings  for  schoolboys  and  business  men,  at 
the  latter  of  which  the  Board  of  Trade  asked  to  have  three 
hundred  reserved  seats,  brought  the  total  attendance  up  to 
14, 000.  The  importance  of  those  Special  Gospel  Meetings 
held  in  a  theatre  by  missionaries  for  2,500  literati  and 
business  men,  as  well  as  for  Cabinet  members  and  leading 
officials  of  Peking,  can  hardly  be  overestimated. 

Of  those  who  attended  these  meetings,  upwards  of 
2,000  became  inquirers.  Among  the  latter  were  a  former 
governor,  two  generals,  a  private  secretary  to  the  Presi- 
dent, the  director  of  China^s  national  bank,  prominent 
officials  and  a  young  non-Christian  philanthropist  who 
has  recently  given  $12,000  to  worthy  objects.  These 
cases,  like  many  others  in  all  sections  of  the  country  that 
could  be  cited,  show  that  the  attitude  of  the  leading  men 
of  China  is  one  of  welcome  to  the  Gospel. 

Think  of  the  edict  of  the  Empress  Dowager  in  that 
same  fell  year  of  1900.  ' '  I  command  that  all  foreigners 
— men,  women  and  children,  old  and  young — be  sum- 
marily executed.    Let  not  one  escape,  so  that  my  Empire 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  111 

may  be  purged  of  this  noisome  source  of  corruption,  and 
that  peace  may  be  restored  to  my  loyal  subjects.''  Aud 
then  think  of  the  Government's  request  for  all  Christians 
on  April  27,  1913,  to  meet  to  pray  for  it,  and  its  com- 
mand to  its  officials  to  meet  with  them  in  that  service. 

What  hunger  for  spiritual  light  and  for  the  welfare  of 
the  land  is  hinted  at  in  the  following,  where  a  mixed 
company  of  varying  creeds  met  in  the  greatest  business 
city  of  North  China  to  pray  for  the  Republic.  We  are 
told  that  at  this  mixed  meeting  of  prayer  for  China,  the 
service  began  with  a  deafening  noise  from  the  Police 
Band  and  was  followed  by  an  explanatory  address  by  a 
Methodist  pastor.  Members  of  the  Women's  Red  Cross 
Society  sang ;  speeches  from  a  leading  Buddhist  and  a 
prominent  Christian  came  next ;  then  an  atheist  proposed 
that  all  should  rise,  thrice  repeat  the  formula  * '  God  bless 
our  country  and  protect  the  people, "  bow  thrice  and  re- 
sume their  seats, — which  was  done  with  some  hesitation. 
Two  representatives  of  the  Viceroy,  one  a  Moslem  and 
the  other  a  Buddhist,  spoke,  as  did  one  representing  the 
Red  Cross.  Then  came  the  most  interesting  part  of  the 
service,  the  reading  aloud  by  all  of  a  printed  prayer 
which  they  held  in  their  hands.  This  had  finally  been 
written  by  the  only  one  on  the  committee  who  knew  what 
true  prayer  was,  a  Christian.  Its  four  divisions  of  praise, 
thanksgiving,  confession  and  petition  were  reverently 
read  aloud  by  the  vast  audience  under  the  guidance  of 
the  chairman.  After  further  singing  and  addresses  by 
a  Moslem  and  Chang  Po-Ling,  the  prayer-meeting  ad- 
journed. Parenthetically,  let  me  say  that  this  Chang 
Po-Ling,  head  of  the  famous  Government  Middle  School 
at  Tien  Tsin,  a  school  of  first  rank  and  reputation  for 
sous  of  gentry,  is  one  of  China's  most  able  aud  conspicuous 
Christians  ;  is  himself  an  aristocrat  wonderfully  converted 
by  the  preaching  of  the  Rev.  Ting  Li  Mei,  long  of  our 


112  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

station  field.  Mr.  Chang  is  now  in  tlie  prime  of  life  and 
one  of  the  strong  personalities  for  Christ  in  China — a  big- 
statured,  vigorous  man  of  winning  personality,  cultured 
and  refined  ;  a  pleasing  speaker  in  English  as  well  as  in 
Chinese ;  and  in  his  person  well  illustrating  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  Gospel  among  the  gentry,  when  it  is  given 
an  opportunity  to  dominate  their  intellects,  affections  and 
wills. 

*'Was  there  ever  a  more  pathetic  prayer- meeting! 
That  crowd  of  men,  women  and  children  seeking  to  pray 
for  their  country  and  not  knowing  how,  and  surrounded 
by  a  vast  city  that  cares  for  none  of  these  things  I "  But 
did  it  not  suggest  that  many  of  the  leaders  have  come  to 
feel,  however  vaguely  or  grotesquely  expressed,  that  they 
and  their  land  need  the  help  of  a  real  God  I  They  are 
ripe  for  the  truth. 

That  explains  the  response  of  the  leaders  of  China  to 
the  Government's  call  for  the  Christians  to  pray  for  it. 
And  few  events  since  the  day  this  earth  began  to  witness 
strange  and  meaningful  sights  have  been  more  significant 
than  that  Day  of  Prayer  in  China.  And  these  instances 
of  the  present  willingness  of  the  gentry  (which  might  be 
multiplied  indefinitely)  to  hear  spiritual  things  along  with 
the  earlier  cases  of  dramatic  contrasts  to  them  cited  in 
the  preceding  paragraphs,  bring  home  in  startling  im- 
pressiveness,  with  truth  that  may  not  be  gainsaid,  with 
an  insistence  that  rday  not  be  put  off,  the  necessity  for 
the  Christian  Church  as  a  whole  (if  its  Lord  is  not  to  be 
crucified  afresh),  to  change  its  attitude  of  callous  indif- 
ference and  wake  up  to  a  vast  and  passing  opportunity, 
which,  if  met,  is  pregnant  with  blessed  promise  without 
limit. 

In  view  o#-such  a  crisis  it  is  no  wonder  that  our  mis- 
sionary statesmen,  the  secretaries  of  twenty-eight  Foreign 
Mission   Boards,    have    issued   ^^a  message  to  all  the 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  113 

Churches  of  North  America^' — which  constitutes  a 
clarion  call  to  all  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  a 
love  incorruptible,  to  pray  and  sacrifice  for  China  now, 
and  to  thank  God  that  He  has  called  us  into  the  King- 
dom for  such  a  time  as  this.  The  ^*  Message'^  is  worthy 
a  place  alongside  of  documents  of  state,  like  the  Magna 
Charta,  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  Lincoln's 
Emancipation  Proclamation, — that  have  challenged  the 
race  to  move  forward.  And  the  interpretation  thereof  is 
that,  whatever  leverage  we  intend  to  exert  for  good 
upon  China,  we  ought  to  bring  to  bear  with  power  and 
at  once.  To-day  the  nation's  younger  leaders  are  plas- 
tic. Many  fear  that  ten  years  hence  may  be  too  late. 
One  paragraph  of  that  ^* Message"  reads:  **The  whole 
world  is  agreed  in  recognizing  in  the  transformation  of 
China  one  of  the  greatest  movements  in  human  history. 
Whether  we  consider  the  immensity  of  the  population 
affected,  the  character  of  the  change  taking  place,  the 
magnitude  of  the  interests  involved,  the  comparative 
peacefulness  of  the  crisis,  or  the  significance  of  the  fact 
that  a  great  and  ancient  race  is  undergoing  in  the  period 
of  a  decade  a  radical,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  readjust- 
ment, it  is  evident  that  it  is  given  us  to  witness,  and 
have  a  part  in,  a  vast  movement  whose  consequences  will 
affect  the  whole  world  and  be  unending." 

After  one  hundred  years  of  spiritual  skirmishing  in 
China  the  Christian  Church  has  made  but  relatively  little 
progress.  There  are  not  a  million  communing  Protestant 
converts.  And  the  progress  that  has  been  made  is  largely 
among  the  peasants  in  the  country  districts.  Less  im- 
pression has  been  made  upon  the  cities,  strongholds  of 
gentry dom.  And  now  that  the  Church's  opportunity 
with  the  gentry  has  come,  how  is  it  prepared  to  enter  in 
and  possess  the  land  for  Christ?    Kot  at  all. 

When  we  say  that  present  methods  are  unequal  to  the 


114  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

crisis,  no  implication  is  intended  that  missionaries  are 
blameworthy  or  that  their  plans  and  the  methods  in  use 
are  unworthy.  A  new  situation  has  arisen  that  requires 
a  mighty  advance,  and  a  host  of  additional  workers  to 
make  it.  And  a  new  kind  of  a  host.  If  the  allies  ever  ex- 
pect to  beat  Germany,  burrowiug  in  in  France  and  Flan- 
ders and  Italy  and  Poland  and  there  adopting  a  waiting 
policy,  would  not  be  the  way  to  attain  their  ambition. 
They  must  advance  on  to  the  soil  of  their  enemies  and  there 
victoriously  clinch  with  them.  And  just  as  it  required 
the  advent  of  Bliicher  on  the  field  of  Waterloo,  with  the 
tremendous  thrnst  of  his  additional  army  to  make  good 
the  heroic  stand  of  Wellington,  so  it  requires  an  addi- 
tional force  of  Christian  workers  equipped  and  eager, 
ready  to  take  China's  cities  for  Christ. 

While  poignantly  recognizing  the  crisis,  the  Western 
missionaries  realize  that  it  is  impossible  for  them  to 
evangelize  these  cities.  One  of  the  axioms  of  the  science 
of  Missions,  born  out  of  its  history,  is  that  foreigners  can- 
not evangelize  another  nation.  Ultimately  it  must  be 
done  by  its  own  people.  Of  course,  men  can  be  baptized 
wholesale — provided  they  can  be  gotten  hold  of — as  they 
were  forced  to  be  at  the  command  of  Constantine  and  of 
Charlemagne ;  but  that  is  as  futile  as  attempts  to  put  life 
into  a  tree  from  without. 

Some  reasons  why  this  city  work  cannot  be  done  by 
foreigners  are  only  too  painfully  evident  to  the  mission- 
aries themselves.  They  need  a  large  increase  of  numbers 
in  order  merely  to  overtake  the  work  they  have  already 
developed  in  their  country  fields,  not  to  speak  of  their 
entering  new  ones. 

There  are  sections  of  China  in  which  there  is  not  one 
ordained  man  missionary  to  five  hundred  thousand  peo- 
ple ;  not  one  to  seven  hundred  thousand  j  yes,  not  one  to 
a  million  j   as  over  against,  Chicago  for  example,  with 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  115 

twelve  biiudred  churches,  and  New  York  with  eighteen 
huudred,  not  to  speak  of  a  host  of  Christian  workers  to 
cooperate  with  their  pastors. 

There  is  probably  not  a  Mission  station  in  China  with 
a  quota  of  workers  sufficiently  adequate  to  administer 
the  work  that  has  there  developed.  Most  of  them  are 
like  my  own  station,  where,  for  several  years,  with  sta- 
tion force  depleted,  I,  a  young  man,  inexperienced,  had 
to  try,  as  best  I  could,  to  care  for  some  half  a  hundred 
village  schools,  for  a  girls'  high  school,  a  boys'  high 
school,  and  a  women's  Bible  School ;  to  be  pastor  of 
eight  churches,  and  counsellor  and  co-worker  in  the  af- 
fairs of  seven  others  ;  to  direct  the  campaign  of  thirty-six 
evangelists  and  sixteen  Bible  women ;  to  look  after  and 
keep  supplied  fifteen  market -town  chapels  ;  to  buy  land 
and  help  build  up  a  Station  Compound  where  mission- 
aries could  live  and  work  ;  to  make  out  statistical  reports 
of  religious  conditions  both  for  the  Chinese  Presbytery 
and  the  Home  Church  ;  to  act  as  treasurer,  receiving,  dis- 
bursing and  reporting  moneys  both  to  the  treasurer  for 
China  at  Shanghai  and  to  the  treasurer  of  the  Foreign 
Board  in  New  York. 

The  many  thousands  of  dollars  handled  had  to  be 
worked  through  in  American  gold  and  Mexican  silver 
and  Chinese  currency. 

Imagine  what  just  two  of  the  above  duties  involved  in 
view  of  the  fact  that,  previously  to  their  suddenly  com- 
ing my  way,  I  had  never  given  a  thought  to  house- 
planning  and  building  and  that  I  was  blissfully  ignorant 
of  formal  bookkeeping.  Incidentally  the  missionary 
often  has  to  burn  much  midnight  oil  (as  I  did  over  that 
day-book  and  ledger)  on  work  for  which  he  has  no  apti- 
tude or  special  training.  All  that  I  did  was  very  inade- 
quately done.  None  could  realize  more  poignantly  than 
I  how  absolutely  essential  it  is  that  a  missionary  should 


116  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

be  able  to  manufacture  time,  that  he  should  have  a  hun- 
dred hands  like  Briareus,  and  that  he  should  be  an  all- 
round  expert.  Sanctity  with  no  flaw  in  it,  unerring 
judgment,  skill  of  hand,  and  the  constitution  of  an  ox 
ought  to  be  the  outstanding  characteristics  of  each  mis- 
sionary, under  circumstances  of  such  dearth  of  workers 
attempting  to  man  the  foreign  field  stations. 

The  recent  foreign  evangelistic  attack  upon  the  great 
cities — and  much  of  it  through  interpreters — has  neces- 
sarily been  so  sporadic  and  inadequate  as  to  be  almost 
disheartening.  At  present  it  is  quite  unrelated — here  a 
little  and  there  a  little — and  at  irregular  intervals,  in- 
capable of  being  pushed  with  the  relatively  few  foreign 
recruits  at  disposal.  It  is  as  if  Haig  should  attempt  to 
take  Berlin  with  a  regiment. 

Neither  can  the  cities  be  captured  by  the  ordinary  na- 
tive country  evangelists  now  in  Mission  employ.  These 
men  are  faithful  under  conditions  unusually  hard  and 
forbidding.  And  whoever  as  a  fellow-shepherd  has  fel- 
lowshipped  with  them,  tramping  with  them  through  dust 
and  rain  and  sleet  and  snow  ;  whoever  has  eaten  and  slept 
and  prayed  and  planned  and  preached  with  them ;  and 
been  in  perils  with  them  of  rivers  and  roads  and  robbers 
— such  an  one  must  have  love  and  praise  for  them.  Use- 
ful as  they  are,  ministering  to  peasant  Christians  and 
preaching  in  the  markets  and  opening  country  chapels, 
nevertheless  they  are  not  equipped  for  this  vast  enter- 
prise. They  have  neither  the  education  nor  the  training 
nor  the  position  to  reach  the  city  gentry.  For  them  to 
attempt  it  would  be  as  futile  as  for  the  converts  of  Water 
Street  to  man  New  York's  up -town  pulpits. 

In  the  face  of  this  exigency  there  remains,  or  rather 
there  has  developed,  the  China  Cities  Evangelization 
Project,  an  adequate  plan  to  meet  China^s  classes  in  their 
walled  seats.    And  among  all  the  Missions  at  work  in 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  117 

China,  the  honour  of  originating  it  and  first  putting  it  into 
execution  falls  to  the  Presbyterian  missionaries  of  Shan- 
tung, **  The  Sacred  Province,''  the  *'  Heart  of  Confucian- 
ism," pivotal  in  the  Eepublic  as  Pennsylvania  is  the 
^'  Keystone  State"  of  the  American  Union. 

Realizing  the  urgency  of  the  situation,  our  Shantung 
Mission  in  1912  decided  that  it  must  plan  to  open  within 
ten  years  at  least  ten  foreign-manned  new  stations.  But 
the  rapid  advance  of  events  forced  the  Mission  to  realize 
that  time  would  not  wait  for  foreign  houses  and  hospitals 
and  schools  to  be  erected,  and  for  young  missionaries  to 
learn  the  language  and  the  people.  It  seemed  imperative 
that  the  Gospel  get  in  on  the  ground  inside  of  five  years ; 
or  it  was  felt  that  the  opportunity  would  have  materially 
changed  for  the  worse  ;  and  a  present,  determined  oppo- 
sition have  hardened  into  the  set.  Powerful  forces  are 
even  now  at  work  in  the  cities  for  the  rejuvenation  of 
Confucianism.  For  instance,  the  first  great  annual,  na- 
tional Confucian  congress  was  recently  held  at  Ku  Fu, 
the  native  city  of  Confucius,  whom  millions  upon  mil- 
lions, to  all  intents  and  purposes,  worship  as  very  God. 
Confucian  scholars,  alert  and  foreign-university  trained, 
and  backed  by  large  money,  and  of  great  influence,  went, 
after  the  close  of  the  sessions  of  their  Congress  to  Peking, 
to  press  the  Constitution-makers  of  the  nation,  themselves 
overwhelmingly  Confucian,  to  incorporate  Confucianism 
into  the  national  law  as  the  state  religion.  This  would 
mean  that  every  student  in  every  Government  school  in 
the  land  would  have  to  worship  Confucius ;  this  would 
disenable  every  Christian,  and  would  cut  the  tap-root  of 
religious  liberty  already  promised  and  without  which  as 
a  corner-stone  no  real  Republic  can  exist.  This  move- 
ment emanates  from  the  cities,  remember.  Reaction 
against  the  radicals  and  against  the  progressivism  with 
which  many  of  them  have  been  linked — all  this  is  rapidly 


118  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

taking  shape  in  plans  formed  to  run  counter  to  *'the 
foreign  religion." 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  Shantung  Province,  with  a 
population  exceeded  only  by  Szechuan,  has  one  hundred 
and  eight  walled  cities,  with  many  additional  market 
towns,  large  and  important,  and  multitudes  of  villages. 
Of  these  one  hundred  and  eight  centres,  some  eighty-five 
fall,  by  comity  arrangements  with  other  Missions,  to  the 
American  Presbyterian  Mission  to  evangelize.  And  this 
vast  opportunity  that  the  missionaries  felt  driven  to  face, 
the  Chinese  leaders  also,  interestingly  enough,  began,  on 
their  own  account,  to  feel  as  their  problem  also  to  solve. 
Coincideutally  with  the  new  step  that  the  burdened  mis- 
sionaries in  great  and  daring  faith  planned  to  take,  the 
Chinese  inaugurated  an  ''Independent  Church"  move- 
ment to  do  this  very  thing — to  reach  the  Gospel- neglected 
upper  classes  of  China.  So  it  was  proposed  that  between 
these  high-grade  native  leaders  and  the  Foreign  Missions, 
instead  of  isolation  and  reduplication  of  work — as  is  so 
appallingly  carried  on  in  the  home-land— there  should  be 
full  cooperation.  Accordingly,  therefore,  arrangements 
have  been  perfected  between  them  and  the  American 
Presbyterian  Mission,  which  hopes  to  do  its  share  of  this 
work  China- wide ;  and  we  are  to  begin  by  opening  at 
least  fifteen  cities  in  those  sections  of  Shantung  Province 
for  which  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  responsible. 

With  regard  to  Chinese  men  available  for  this  great 
undertaking,  we  Presbyterians  in  Shantung  are  peculiarly 
favourably  situated  and  have  a  consequent  weighty  ac- 
countability. Some  fifty  years  ago,  the  Eev.  Calvin  W. 
Mateer,  D.  D.,  revered  and  honoured  as  a  premier  sine- 
logue  and  untiringly  fruitful  scholar,  able  translator, 
versatile  educator,  and  missionary  statesman,  gatliered 
several  beggar  boys  into  a  school,  which,  under  his  faith- 
ful leadership,  and  under  the  succeeding  presidencies  of 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  119 

Drs.  W.  M.  Hayes  aud  P.  D.  Bergen  and  W.  P.  Chalfant, 
has  developed  into  the  Christian  University  of  Shantung 
Province,  a  union  institution  embracing  schools  of  Arts, 
Medicine  and  Theology,  supported  by  several  leading 
Protestant  Missions  in  that  section  of  China,  including  the 
Mission  of  the  Church  of  England.  Missionary  leaders 
have  repeatedly  declared  this  union  Mission  University  to 
be  one  of  the  most  potent  single  educational  factors  in 
China  towards  making  that  land  a  new  creation  in  Christ. 

As  a  result,  we  have  graduates  of  this  university  scat- 
tered in  various  sections  of  China,  real  leaders  in  its  re- 
making, men  in  great  demand  and  holding  many  positions 
of  influence  and  responsibility.  Thus  we  have  for  this 
evangelistic  enterprise  educated  men  of  ability,  experi- 
ence, and  consecration  ;  men  who  have  suffered  for  the 
Name  and  who  have  come  to  the  Kingdom  of  God  for 
such  a  time  as  this.  They  are  willing  to  leave  positions 
as  heads  of  departments  in  the  Government,  and  as  pro- 
fessors in  schools  of  higher  learning,  etc.  (with  all  the 
prestige  and  honour  that  such  positions  in  China  can 
carry)  in  order  to  take  up  this  work,  at  greatly  reduced 
salaries.  Accordingly,  our  Mission  has  promptly  met 
them  half-way  by  requesting  the  Home  Church  to  raise 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  at  once  and  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  ultimately  for  the  carrying  out  of  this 
corner  of  the  project.  So  that  the  way  for  the  most 
strategic  sort  of  giving  imaginable  is  open  to  any  in- 
vestor who  wishes  large  spiritual  returns  on  his  money. 

The  following  ten  points  contain  the  gist  of  the  argu- 
ment, and  much  of  the  wording  used  by  the  Committee 
(Rev.  R.  M.  Mateer,  D.  D.,  Rev.  W.  M.  Hayes,  D.  D., 
Rev.  W.  P.  Chalfant,  D.  D.,  Rev.  J.  P.  Irwin  and  Rev. 
C.  E.  Scott)  entrusted  with  bringing  the  matter  before 
the  Mission,  the  Foreign  Board,  and  the  Home  Church. 

At  least  five  thousand  dollars  will  be  spent  for  the 


120  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

plant  in  each  city,  which  sum  is  a  mere  bagatelle,  com- 
pared with  that  required  for  a  missionary-manned  sta- 
tion. Subject  to  any  local  modification  which  may  be 
found  necessary,  each  building  will  contain  a  large  audi- 
torium, a  street  chapel,  a  guest  room  for  men,  and  one 
for  women,  school  and  Bible  class-rooms  to  be  used  both 
day  and  evening  ;  and,  with  separate  street-entrance  ac- 
commodations for  a  Y.  M.  O.  A. 

Engaged  in  this  work  will  be  an  older,  together  with  a 
somewhat  younger,  college  graduate,  a  Bible  woman  and 
a  gateman.  In  each  chapel  the  salaries,  together  with 
incidental  expenses,  will  require  five  hundred  dollars 
annually.  It  is  proposed  to  have  an  educated  physician 
travelling  among  each  five  of  these  cities,  seeing  patients 
four  days  every  month  in  each  city  ;  also  a  general  super- 
intendent for  the  fifteen  cities.  The  college  is  proposing 
to  make  this  its  benevolent  enterprise,  securing  gifts 
from  the  alumni  scattered  all  over  China  ;  and  the  Chris- 
tians of  the  county  whose  city  is  thus  occupied  will  as- 
sist ;  also  the  gentry  in  the  cities  occupied  have  already 
given  substantial  assistance,  which  it  is  expected  that 
they  will  increase  until,  at  the  end  of  three  years,  our 
hope  and  expectation  is  that  the  support  of  the  work  will 
be  guaranteed  from  the  field. 

This  whole  project  is  entrusted  to  the  oversight  of  a 
Board  of  Directors,  consisting  of  six  men,  three  Chinese 
selected  by  the  Synod,  and  three  missionaries  selected  by 
the  Mission. 

Incidentally,  this  project  is  not  a  new,  hair-brained 
scheme,  springing  full -orbed  out  of  the  mind  of  some  in- 
experienced enthusiast  at  home,  ignorant  of  conditions  in 
China  ;  but  is  a  conviction  slowly  maturing  in  the  minds 
of  some  of  the  ablest  of  our  missionaries — evolved  on  the 
field  by  those  who  have  lived  there  longest,  whose  judg- 
ment is  solid  and  respected. 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  121 

The  project  commended  itself  at  once  to  leaders  of  other 
Missions  in  China  (some  of  whom  are  planning  soon  to 
put  it  into  execution  in  their  fields)  as  well  as  to  the  lead- 
ei-s  of  the  Home  Church. 

For  the  vast  population  of  each  county,  the  walled 
county  seat  is  becoming  more  and  more  the  commanding 
political,  commercial,  educational,  and  social  centre. 
Longer  to  neglect  the  opportunities  here,  with  doors 
marvellously  opened — doors  that  God  has  opened  and 
that  no  man  can  shut — would  be  highly  culpable.  In 
China,  as  elsewhere,  the  country  streams  into  the  city. 
And  much  of  its  ablest  and  best  life  finds  itself  per- 
manently located  therein.  If  Paul,  an  inspired  mission- 
ary statesman,  our  human  model  as  a  master-builder  of 
the  Church,  set  himself  to  establish  churches  in  the  lead- 
ing cities,  shall  we  continue  to  pass  by  such  centres  I 

As  in  all  times  and  countries,  large  church  success 
awaits  a  fully  equipped  leadership.  Here,  as  in  the 
West,  high-grade  leaders  are  not  satisfied  with  a  pas- 
torate among  scattered  country  churches,  but  are  at- 
tracted to  the  cities,  centres  of  power.  With  churches 
developing  among  these  thickly  populated  counties,  the 
man  in  the  central  city  will,  without  the  office,  be  a 
veritable  metropolitan  of  wide  and  commanding  in- 
fluence. We  have  some  such  men  ready  for  this  work, 
and  an  inspiring  program  just  as  rapidly  as  we  become 
sponsor  for  a  modest  remuneration  for  these  services. 

Had  the  Home  Church  the  missionaries  ready  to  fill 
these  teeming  cities,  and  had  it  the  money  to  send  them, 
and  were  they  actually  set  down  within  the  walls  of  those 
vast  and  numerous  centres,  the  first  step  in  their  evan- 
gelization would  hardly  have  been  taken. 

Land  for  the  compound  must  be  purchased — often  an 
intricate  and  expensive  transaction  that  often  leads  a 
would-be  purchaser  through  a  maze  covering  years ;  a 


122  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

veteran  missionary  must  be  detached  from  a  station  al- 
ready overworked  and  undermanned  to  direct  the  young 
and  helpless  company  of  new  recruits ;  building  ma- 
terial must  be  purchased  and  assembled,  much  of  it  often 
from  across  oceans  and  out  of  other  lands,  the  cost  of 
which,  plus  freight,  is  high ;  workmen,  ignorant  of 
architecture  and  unused  to  foreign  ways  must  be  con- 
stantly supervised  in  building  operations  (often  "  a  proc- 
ess of  anguish"  to  both  sides  mutually  "knowing  only 
in  part'^)  ;  young  missionaries  must  grind  at  least  three 
years  on  the  language,  and  often  spend  two  years  more 
of  watching  and  experimenting  before  beginning  to  be 
of  pronounced  practical  assistance  in  the  burden-bear- 
ing ;  in  any  company  it  is  very  possible  that  some  will 
be  misfits,  physically,  mentally,  or  spiritually,  soon  to 
break  down  in  health  and  die  on  the  field  or  be  fur- 
loughed  home  at  great  expense. 

An  adequately  manned  station  ought  to  consist  of  at 
least  two  clerical  men  and  wives,  a  principal  of  a  boys' 
high  school  and  of  a  girls',  a  medical  missionary,  and 
two  single  ladies  for  country  classes  ;  and  when  homes 
have  been  built  for  all  these,  together  with  two  station 
high  schools  and  hospital  and  dispensary  and  Bible  Study 
buildings,  and  necessary  servants'  quarters,  outbuildings 
and  compound  walls,  plus  the  price  of  the  land,  a  sum 
of  money  has  been  spent  that  ranges  anywhere  from 
$40,000  to  $100,000  or  more  for  outfit,  as  against  the 
$5,000  Chinese-manned  "Jesus  Doctrine  Preaching  Hall  '^ 
planted  in  the  midst  of  a  great  city  ;  and  often  the  land 
for  a  Mission  Compound  is  purchasable  only  outside  the 
city  walls,  and  apart  from  the  people. 

Moreover,  it  is  always  to  be  remembered  that  the  only 
rightful  attitude  for  a  missionary  to  take  is  that  of  John 
the  Baptist  in  the  presence  of  his  Lord — "He  must  in- 
crease, but  I  must  decrease."    The  missionary  must  con- 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  123 

sistently  recognize  and  plan  for  and  look  towards  the 
day  when  his  work  may  be  gradually  turned  over  into 
the  hands  of  the  convert,  and  he  and  his  temporary  oc- 
cupation be  eclipsed ;  when  he  shall  give  way  in  favour 
of  those  who  preach,  and  possibly  with  greater  power 
and  results,  to  their  own  nationals. 

How  fortunate  that  we  have  a  plan  that  can  use  the 
men  trained  on  the  field  ;  and  that  they  can  begin  at  once 
what  will  be  a  permanent  occupancy,  and  do  it  by  the 
use  of  an  eminently  workable  method  I 

Grace  and  vision  is  everywhere  required  on  the  part 
of  missionaries  in  order  increasingly  to  accord  to  the 
Chinese  leaders  positions  of  evangelistic  prominence 
worthy  of  their  gifts  and  training.  Here  is  a  fine  oppor- 
tunity for  the  missionaries  to  retain  a  directing  influence, 
without  *'  lording  it "  over  the  Chinese. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  native  leaders  in  China  have 
developed  so  fast  and  progressed  so  far  that  any  make- 
shift, rather  than  giving  them  liberty  of  action  and  large 
responsibility  and  full  credit  for  all  they  do,  will  spell 
disaster,  as  the  history  of  the  missionary  enterprise 
warns. 

The  need  is  to  fellowship  with  the  Chinese,  not  to  com- 
mand them  ;  else  we  drive  them  from  us,  and  the  Mis- 
sions thereby  are  stranded  high  and  dry,  without  soul- 
material  to  work  upon  and  with.  And  at  the  present 
stage  of  development  this  is  the  most  feasible  plan  that 
will  draw  both  missionaries  and  prominent  converts  to- 
gether, and  hold  them  united. 

This  plan  is  calculated  to  eliminate  the  idea  that  a 
*' Foreigners'  Church"  is  being  planted  throughout 
China,  which  impression  is  a  serious  drawback,  and  has 
long  been.  Moreover,  the  Chinese  Church  itself  will  never 
be  a  large  success  until  the  members  are  filled  with  the 
realization  that  this  is  an  enterprise  for  which  they  are 


124  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

responsible.  This  is  a  fandamental  truth  ;  and  now  is 
the  psychological  time  to  make  the  responsibility  over 
to  them.  Whereas  it  sounds  ridiculous  to  many  Chinese 
for  a  foreigner  to  asseverate  that  the  "  Jesus  Doctrine'' 
is  not  a  "  foreign  "  religion,  it  strikes  home  with  power 
for  an  educated  Chinese  of  social  position  to  proclaim  it 
as  indigenous. 

This  method  of  work  helps  to  make  worth  while  in  an 
evangelistic  way  the  large  amount  of  effort  and  money 
put  into  higher  education  in  China.  It  furnishes  open- 
ings for  able  and  consecrated  graduates,  because  such  feel 
drawn  towards  the  influential  task  of  bearing  witness  for 
Christ  in  city  centres  where  the  men  who  are  shaping  the 
destinies  of  China  go  and  come. 

Such  occupation  will  give  needed  prestige  to  the  di- 
rectly evangelistic  work  in  the  eyes  of  the  influential 
classes  both  in  and  out  of  the  Church.  The  rapidly  in- 
creasing prominence  given  to  our  church  education  by  so 
many  fine  plants  and  such  rapid  expansion,  with  the 
turning  of  almost  all  college  graduates  to  the  more  profit- 
able work  of  teaching,  is  calculated  to  misrepresent  our 
missionary  object.  It  thus  appears  that,  to  say  the  least, 
we  need  the  prominence  of  this  city  evangelization  enter- 
prise for  the  balancing  up  of  the  several  departments  of 
our  common  work. 

Because  Christianity  is  not  an  institution  but  the  prin- 
ciples of  God  applied  and  of  life  eternal  inwrought,  what 
could  more  damage  the  cause  of  Christ  in  China  than  to 
let  the  educational  and  cultural  overtop  the  evangelistic 
phase  of  Mission  effort?  This  preaching  movement  by 
educated  Chinese  is  the  only  adequate  movement  in  sight 
calculated  to  be  a  sane  corrective  of  higher  educational 
work  into  which  such  large  sums  of  money  are  being 
poured. 

Preaching  and  teaching  is  to  be  supplemented  by  lee- 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  125 

tures,  scliools,  women^s  work,  medical  work,  and  Y.  M. 
C.  A.,  and  various  kinds  of  Bible  Classes,  thus  teaching 
many  different  points  of  approach  to  mind  and  heart. 
And,  surrounded  as  each  walled  city  is  by  multitudinous 
villages  in  close  proximity,  it  will  be  feasible — both  ap- 
preciated and  profitable— to  invite  their  inhabitants  on 
special  days  to  special  evangelistic  services. 

This  evangelistic  offer  promises  to  arrest  the  attention 
and  save  from  spiritual  bankruptcy 'the  educated  classes, 
and  stem  the  rising  tide  of  an  atheistic,  materialistic 
philosophy  of  life.  This  impending  bankruptcy  consti- 
tutes the  greatest  menace  to  the  future  of  China.  With 
the  grip  of  the  old  religions  gone,  with  atheism  the  popu- 
lar form  of  educated  thought,  and  agnostic  literature 
widely  read,  together  with  a  more  or  less  conscious  de- 
sire of  the  educated  to  find  something  to  satisfy  the  crav- 
ings of  the  soul,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  a  veritable  crisis 
has  come  in  the  religious  history  of  China.  Hence  the 
wisdom  and  urgency  of  the  above  program. 

Dr.  Hayes,  in  the  following  paragraph,  emphasizes  the 
danger,  and  points  out  how,  by  this  plan,  it  can  be  com- 
batted. 

^*  At  present,"  he  says,  ^'the  Chinese  leaders  are  just 
shaking  off  the  shackles  of  the  past  and  starting  out  on  a 
new  career.  Whether  it  shall  be  a  career  for  advanced 
Buddhism,  for  Neo-Confucianism,  for  Infidelity,  or  for 
Christianity,  is  the  question  before  us.  In  Japan  the 
significance  of  the  opportunity  afforded  by  the  period  of 
transition,  when  men's  minds  are  like  molten  metal,  quick 
to  receive  new  impressions,  was  not  grasped  as  it  should 
Lave  been,  and  much  of  Japanese  thought  seems  to  have 
crystallized  into  a  state  of  disbelief  in  all  religions.  Con- 
sequently the  entire  church  membership,  instead  of  reach- 
ing into  the  hundreds  of  thousands  as  it  might  have  done, 
only  numbers  some  eighty  thousand.     Let  us  not  at  this 


126  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

critical  point  repeat  that  error,  which  it  may  require  ages 
to  overcome,  but  rise  to  the  possibilities  of  the  present 
opportunity.  Their  faith  in  the  old  cults  is  dying  out. 
Temples  are  deserted,  the  doors  closed  and  the  idols  left 
to  the  moles  and  bats,  or  the  images  are  destroyed  and 
the  buildings  converted  into  schools  or  public  buildings. 
This  is  what  missionary  effort,  according  to  the  Chinese 
themselves,  has  already  succeeded  in  accomplishing. 
But  it  is  easier  to  tear  down  than  it  is  to  build  up  and 
we  need  a  larger  force  to  supplant  the  false  with  the  true, 
else  we  shall  find  the  demon  of  superstition  supplanted 
by  the  much  more  intractable  spirit  of  infidelity.  Our 
own  Board,  relying  on  the  zeal  of  the  Church,  is  planning 
to  do  what  it  can  to  make  this  China  of  the  future  one  of 
the  richest  diadems  on  the  Saviour's  brow,  which,  re- 
placing the  crown  of  thorns,  causes  Him  to  see  the  travail 
of  His  soul  and  be  satisfied." 

We  have  several  strong  Chinese  leaders  already  at 
work  in  Shantung  cities,  and  with  splendid  results. 
They  are  men  who  could  command  much  larger  salaries 
in  secular  work,  but  who  prefer  this  soul- winning  work 
in  these  centres,  especially  among  the  young  men  and 
young  women  students. 

Success  in  such  a  far-reaching,  soul-saving  venture  is 
not  easy  of  computation.  But  aside  from  the  plants  al- 
ready established  and  those  planned  for,  the  fact  just  re- 
ferred to  cannot  be  too  strongly  emphasized  as  an  initial 
success  scored  of  first-class  importance  :  that  success  in- 
heres in  the  type  of  men  who  have  become  interested  in 
this  project.  They  are  the  very  best  product  of  what  the 
missionary  in  China  can  turn  out.  And  men  of  this  type 
of  finest  calibre  have  responded  nobly  to  this  call  and 
will  as  the  Home  Church  gives  them  opportunity.  It  is 
to  be  remembered  that  it  is  just  this  type  of  men  that  the 
Government  is  everywhere  searching  for — able  men  with 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  127 

Western  educations  whose  training  and  Christian  char- 
acters have  made  them  natural  leaders.  They  are  sought 
for  every  sort  of  position  of  trust  and  influence  ;  for  ex- 
ample, as  heads  of  departments  in  mining,  engineering, 
agriculture,  railroading  ;  and  as  officials  and  teachers. 
Relatively  high  salaries  are  offered  them  ranging  from 
$50  to  $150  Mex.  a  month. 

In  addition,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  pull  of 
high  salaries  on  them  in  a  land  of  unbelievable  poverty, 
where  millions  are  on  the  ragged  edge  of  nothing,  is  tre- 
mendously strong. 

Thus  far  the  men  who  have  offered  themselves  as  su- 
perintendents for  this  work  are  already  pastors  or  profess- 
ors in  our  Christian  university.  Whatever  of  6clat  and 
deference  the  position  of  officer  would  bring  to  a  Prussian 
in  Prussia  is  suggestive  relatively  of  the  position  that 
teacher  brings  to  a  man  in  China. 

Moreover,  some  of  these  men  were  already  as  teachers 
receiving  nearly  twice  the  salary  they  will  get  in  the 
city  chapels,  which  is  $30  Mex.  (not  $15  gold)  a  month. 
These  candidates  are  mature  men — zealous,  able,  bal- 
anced and  solid, — not  mere  youthful  college  enthusiasts. 
Some  in  witnessing  for  the  Name  have  already  suffered 
severe  testing,  even  persecution.  And  those  candidates 
who  are  not  already  ministers  of  the  Gospel  have  not 
only  consented  to  give  up  their  professorships  to  take  a 
full  theological  course,  but  several  of  them  are  already 
half-way  through  that  course,  in  classes  with  some  of 
their  former  pupils.  This  in  China  denotes  a  degree  of 
earnestness  and  humility  that  speaks  well  for  these  fu- 
ture leaders,  no  less  than  the  consecration  that  causes 
them  to  forego  their  accustomed  income  during  these 
years  of  preparation. 

I  will  sketch  just  one  key -leader,  Lui  Kwang  Chao,  as 
a  type  of  the  men  commissioned  or  in  training  to  achieve 


128  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

the  success  expected.  Like  many  of  our  leaders,  lie  was 
a  beggar  boy,  picked  up  by  one  of  our  missionaries.  He 
became  head  professor  of  mathematics  in  the  University, 
a  maker  of  books  of  higher  mathematics,  and  official 
translator  for  Macmillans  of  books  of  higher  mathematics 
from  English  into  Chinese.  He  speaks  excellent  English, 
and  is  a  teacher  of  teachers.  For  years  the  Chinese 
Government  has  tempted  him  with  one  hundred  and 
fifty  taels  (a  tael  is  about  sixty -six  cents)  a  month  to  act 
as  a  school  inspector  for  North  China,  and  for  years  he 
has  continued  to  serve  a  Christian  college  for  $50  Mex.  a 
month. 

During  the  great  revival  services  held  in  the  college  by 
the  Eev.  Ting  Li  Mei,  when  scores  of  students  decided  to 
give  themselves  to  the  ministry,  Mr.  Lui  became  con- 
vinced that  he  could  serve  the  Master  more  efficiently  as 
a  preacher  than  as  a  teacher.  Accordingly  he  left  his 
professor's  chair  to  take  the  course  for  the  ministry  in 
our  Shantung  Union  Theological  Seminary.  As  soon  as 
he  had  completed  his  course,  he  entered  at  once  upon  his 
work  in  an  ancient  walled  city.  An  Kiu,  where  a  large 
pawn-shop  was  fitted  up  for  his  use.  Last  year  he  there 
organized  a  church  composed  of  the  gentry.  Already 
under  his  direction  the  place  is  a  beehive,  with  a  Normal 
School  for  girls,  a  boys'  Academy,  a  school  for  the  wives 
of  important  young  gentry-men  of  the  city,  a  Women's 
Department  in  which  an  excellent  Bible  woman  is  at 
work,  a  large  Night  School,  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  a  Primary 
School  for  girls.  These  schools  are  self-supporting,  as 
this  work  is  expected  to  be  in  the  centres  opened,  and  the 
Bible  is  a  required  part  of  the  daily  curricula,  and  chapel 
is  held  every  morning  and  evening. 

The  latest  word  from  the  Eev.  Mr.  Lui  regarding  the 
situation  is  as  follows  : 

*^Now  in  An  Kiu  a  boys'  Christian  Middle  School,  a 


THE  CRISES  OF  THE  CITIES  129 

girls'  Normal  School,  with  seventy  boys  and  thirty-five 
girls  respectively,  as  well  as  a  Primary  Girls'  School  with 
twenty  little  girls,  have  already  been  started  :  also  an 
English  class  with  about  twenty  young  men  and  a  Chinese 
Literature  class  of  nearly  thirty  boys  and  young  men, 
have  begun  each  evening. 

"  About  one-third  of  the  girls  in  the  Normal  are  from 
non-Christian  homes,  but  all  are  Christians  now.  They 
have  divided  themselves  into  three  classes  to  study  the 
Bible  each  evening,  and  two  or  three  go  to  the  women's 
guest  room  to  preach  to  outsiders  each  market-day  and 
Sunday. 

"Over  one-half  the  boys  in  the  Middle  School  come 
from  non-Christian  homes.  In  the  beginning  of  the 
spring  term  it  was  difficult  to  get  them  to  attend  prayers 
each  morning  and  evening.  Many  of  them  dislike  the 
hymns  very  much.  But  I  pray  for  them,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  has  done  His  great  work.  After  about  two  months 
they  are  greatly  changed.  Thirty -two  of  them  were  ex- 
amined for  church  membership  and  now  the  whole  school 
has  divided  itself  into  six  groups  to  study  the  Bible  each 
evening.  Some  promised  to  serve  the  sick  and  some  to 
help  the  young  and  some  to  teach  newcomers. 

*'Five  or  six  boys  go  to  the  country  to  preach  to  the 
people  each  Sunday.  Our  Lord's  words  are  ever  true  : 
*  The  harvest  indeed  is  plenteous  but  the  labourers  are 
few.''' 

Even  so.  Nevertheless  these  sons  and  daughters  of  the 
gentry  constitute  the  most  capable  and  encouraging  class 
of  people  who  are  available,  in  God's  great  opportunity, 
to  become  His  labourers  in  the  soul-vineyard  of  China. 

Mr.  Lui  has  again  definitely  told  the  Government  that 
he  cannot  accept  its  flattering  offers.  "I  am  doing  a 
great  work  and  cannot  come  down."  A  veteran  mis- 
sionary friend  writes  (November  20,  1914):  "Last  Sun- 


130  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

day  the  Eev.  Mr.  Lui  gave  a  powerful  appeal  to  the 
students  of  the  University  for  consecration  to  this  great 
work — I  think  the  most  powerful,  influential  talk  ever 
given  here.''^  This  is  love  and  zeal  trained  and  according 
to  knowledge.  Will  the  Home  Church  let  it  go  to  waste 
for  lack  of  opportunity  which  it  alone  can  supply  ? 

China,  in  view  of  her  vast  population  and  natural 
resources  and  age-long  influence  on  Asia,  is  the  lock  to 
the  Far  East ;  and  the  key  to  that  lock  is  the  cities.  In 
view  of  the  above,  is  it  not  apparent  that  it  would  be 
hard  to  find  a  Christian  appeal  combining  so  many  at- 
tractive and  impelling  considerations  for  the  investment 
of  life  and  money  as  the  China  Cities  Evangelization 
Project  ?  Verily  here  is  a  *Uong  reach  for  the  Kingdom 
of  God  ^M 

Small  wonder,  then,  that  President  Wilson,  addressing 
the  Potomac  Presbytery  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
urged:  "Convert  China  !'^  "Why,'^  said  he,  "this  is 
the  most  amazing  and  inspiring  vision  that  can  be  offered 
you,  this  vision  of  that  great,  sleeping  nation  suddenly 
cried  awake  by  the  voice  of  Christ.  Could  there  be  any- 
thing more  tremendous  than  that?  And  could  there  be 
any  greater  contribution  to  the  future  momentum  of  the 
moral  forces  of  the  world  than  could  be  made  by  quick- 
ening this  force,  which  is  being  set  afoot  in  China? 
China  is  at  present  inchoate  ;  as  a  nation  it  is  a  congeries 
of  parts  in  each  of  which  there  is  energy,  but  which  are 
unbound  in  any  essential  and  active  unit ;  and  just  as  soon 
as  its  unity  comes,  its  power  will  come  in  the  worldj 
Should  we  not  see  that  the  ^arts  are  fructified  by  the 
teachings  of  Christ  t " 


IV 

Sowing  the  Good  Seed 
A  Study  of  the  Gospel  Among  Village  Folk 


IV 

SOWING  THE  GOOD  SEED 

SOWING  the  seed  of  the  Word  is  in  China  a  fasci- 
nating work.  No  man  is  big  enough  to  graduate 
into  anything  more  important.  And  as  there  are 
many  diversities  of  gifts  but  one  Holy  Spirit  energizing 
each  worker  in  the  exercise  of  his  gift,  so  it  may  be  said 
that  in  this  seed-sowing  in  China,  while  the  ways  of  do- 
ing it  are  many,  the  prime  essential  in  the  human  sower 
is  that  he  have  the  pastor-heart.  He  who  has  this  pity 
for  men  in  the  toils  of  Satan  and  soiled  beyond  human 
washing  in  the  filth  of  sin  can  have  fruitage  of  souls  unto 
eternal  life,  and,  even  though  for  a  season  in  tears  and 
through  soul- travail,  shall  come  at  last  rejoicing,  bearing 
his  sheaves  before  the  throne — sheaves  of  souls  redeemed. 

In  this  discussion  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  study- 
ing the  methods  of  seed  sowing  which  a  missionary 
necessarily  and  obviously  uses  when  functioning  as 
country  pastor  and  itinerating  evangelist. 

By  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  in  order  to  attain  his 
object,  the  itinerant  missionary  must  get  the  eyes  and 
ears  of  the  people,  of  the  ordinary  country  folk.  He 
must  go  to  them  in  their  multitudinous  villages.  They 
will  not  come  to  him,  for  as  yet  he  and  what  he  stands 
for  are  nothing  to  them.  Therefore,  the  most  natural 
thing  for  an  itinerating  missionary  to  do,  as  he  journeys 
along  the  way,  is  to  talk  with  individuals.  Incidentally, 
this  systematic  going  from  place  to  place,  this  preaching 
the  glad  tidings  from  village  to  village,  involves  the  tak- 

133 


134  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

iDg  with  one  of  a  complete  itinerating  outfit — everything 
that  a  man  will  want  to  use  on  his  long  trip,  from  a  nail 
to  cooking  utensils  and  tracts  and  Scripture  portions. 
It  involves  the  setting  up  camp,  so  to  speak,  anew  every- 
where he  goes.  To  this  end  he  must  have  a  faithful, 
strong  man  to  push  his  barrow,  and  a  boy  euphemistic- 
ally called  * '  a  cook.  '^  He  himself  needs  physical  strength 
and  endurance  for  the  rough,  irregular  life.  He  needs 
the  ability  to  extract  all  the  humour  possible  out  of  the 
kaleidoscopically  changing  daily  situations  that  can  be 
fall  enough  of  annoyances.  He  needs  grace  to  be  truly 
interested  in  and  to  like  people  who  aesthetically  and 
temperamentally  and  intellectually  may  not  appeal  to 
him. 

An  important  factor  determinative  of  whether  one  shall 
do  evangelistic  work  along  the  road  is  how  the  mission- 
ary travels.  I  have  tried  various  means  of  locomotion 
in  our  section — practically  everything  that  goes  on  hoofs 
or  wheels — donkeys,  mules,  mule-litters,  horses,  barrow, 
sedan-chair,  bicycle,  two- wheeled  cart,  and  I  once  jour- 
neyed on  camel- back.  The  use  of  these  practically  cuts 
the  itinerator  off  from  personal  contact  with  folks  along 
the  road.  Because  by  walking  one  can  utilize  many  a 
golden  opportunity  en  route  to  places  of  meeting,  I  have 
practically  settled  down  to  that  method.  Moreover, 
strange  as  it  may  seem  to  a  Westerner,  and  slow  as  I  was 
to  come  to  it,  my  experience  is  that  the  most  time-saving 
method  for  me  is  to  walk.  All  other  means  of  getting 
over  the  ground  in  my  section  except  this  one  have 
marked  disadvantages.  The  disadvantage  of  riding,  if 
the  Chinese  evangelists  or  elders  walk  while  the  mission- 
ary rides,  is  that  it  is  practically  impossible  to  talk  with 
them  on  the  journey — Chinese  pride  and  sense  of  demo- 
cratic equality  not  allowing  them  on  foot  to  imply,  ac- 
cording to  their  standard,  a  suggestion  of  their  inferiority 


SOWING  THE  GOOD  SEED  135 

to  the  mau  mouuted,  by  carrying  on  a  conversation  with 
him.  If  he  forgets  to  alight  from  his  animal  when  enter- 
ing a  village  and  asking  directions  he  is  apt  to  be  pur- 
posely misdirected.  The  Chinaman  addressed  will  often 
lie  to  him,  saying  under  his  breath,  '*  If  he  is  too  snobbish 
to  get  down  when  he  asks  a  favour  let  him  go  on  the 
wrong  road."  It  can  mean  many  a  weary,  extra  mile, 
and  disarranged  plans. 

The  advantage  of  walking  in  my  field  is  not  merely 
that  it  saves  the  expensive  luxury  of  renting  a  donkey 
which  when  brought  around  at  the  hour  of  starting  may 
be  skin  and  bones,  have  something  akin  to  heart  disease, 
and  die  on  one's  hands ;  not  merely  that  it  obviates  the 
embarrassment  of  your  horse  dumping  you  into  a  cold 
and  swollen  stream ;  not  merely  that  you  avoid  a  can- 
tankerous mule  clawing  at  you  with  his  hoofs ;  not  merely 
that  you  save  strength  that  might  have  been  expended  in 
luggiug  a  broken  bike  through  miles  of  mud  or  pushing 
it  in  the  teeth  of  a  chill  head  wind.  These  and  many 
more  interesting  experiences  may  occur.  The  main  ad- 
vantage of  walking  remains  that  it  enables  the  pastor  to 
talk  with  his  fellow- workers ;  to  teach  the  Scriptures 
and  discuss  policies ;  to  plan  about  the  places  to  which 
they  are  going;  to  counsel  together  about  the  people 
whom  they  have  left  and  expect  to  meet ;  and  at  any 
time  along  the  road  to  kneel  together  and  seek  Heavenly 
guidance  as  to  whatever  demands  attention.  This  talk- 
ing and  praying  over  the  problems  ahead  and  those  left 
behind  gets  one  into  close  sympathy  and  fellowship  with 
the  workers ;  and  on  such  trips,  walking,  eating,  sleep- 
ing, roughing  it  with  them,  the  Chinese  will  gradually 
open  up  worlds  of  Chinese  life  and  thought  to  one  whom 
they  trust — worlds  of  which  the  foreigner  never  dreamed. 

The  praying  places  along  the  road  are  numerous :  on 
the  edge  of  a  wheat-field,  beside  a  booth  in  a  vineyard, 


136  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

or  the  lodge  in  a  melon  patch  ;  or  on  a  threshing-floor,  or 
beside  the  temple  wall.  The  itinerator  ought  to  be  well 
supplied  with  tracts,  the  judicious  use  of  which  facilitates 
very  much  his  work  in  speaking  to  individuals.  Not  to 
distribute  these  and  not  to  speak  of  Christ  to  the  people 
along  the  road— journeying  to  the  market  or  on  their  way 
to  pay  a  visit  or  going  to  and  from  their  fields  or  passing 
along  their  village  streets — would  be  negligent  indeed, 
and  would  involve  loss  of  many  precious  opportunities. 
The  obvious  reason  for  the  foreigner  in  China  is  either  to 
push  business  or  to  propagate  the  Gospel. 

The  people  who  are  to  be  told  are  myriad.  In  some 
sections  more  than  two  thousand  to  the  square  mile. 
Scarcely  ever  is  one  out  of  sight  of  human  beings.  Ee- 
peatedly  have  I  taken  my  handkerchief  out  of  my  pocket 
with  the  thought  of  not  putting  it  back  until  I  could  see 
no  human  being  in  the  landscape,  but  for  hours  at  a  time 
there  was  never  a  moment  when  one  or  more  were  not  in 
sight.  This  is  the  land  par  excellence  for  the  man  who 
wants  to  do  ''individual  work  for  individuals. '^ 

The  following  situation  will  suggest  how  interesting, 
not  to  say  fruitful,  are  these  opportunities.  One  day  I 
was  travelling  along  the  road.  It  was  noon,  the  hardest 
part  of  the  day  was  ahead — seventy  li  to  be  made  on 
foot,  a  bridgeless  river  to  cross  and  an  important  meeting 
scheduled  for  the  evening.  There  was  no  time  to  wait 
for  the  innkeeper  to  fire  up  and  get  a  hot  meal.  So  for 
dinner  I  bought  of  a  peddler  hawking  them  on  the  nasty 
dust-blown  street  cold  ''  hwoa  shao  "  (coarse-flour  native 
biscuits)  and  some  peanuts.  As  I  munched,  the  whole 
village  gradually  gathered  to  watch  the  manipulation  of 
the  foreigner's  jaws,  to  comment  on  his  buttons,  to  marvel 
at  his  coloured  glasses  on  top  of  another  pair,  and  to  dis- 
cuss with  animation  the  price  of  everything  about  him. 
After  meal-time  on  the  road  usually  affords  an  excellent 


SOWING  THE  GOOD  SEED  137 

opportuDity  for  an  informal  preaching  of  the  Gospel ;  for 
the  curious  will  assemble  to  see  the  outlandish  foreigner 
outlandishly  eat. 

And  as  I  travelled  along — and  this  is  one  of  the  great 
advantages  of  walking — there  were  occasions  innumerable 
to  sow  the  seed.  One  sits  down  by  the  roadside  to  rest, 
or  on  a  threshing  floor,  or  on  the  nether  millstone  of  a 
donkey-power  flour  mill,  or  on  the  steps  in  front  of  a 
temple— and  there  are  always  auditors  in  abundance, 
willing  to  receive  the  little  tract  explained  and  presented. 
I  had  not  progressed  far  after  my  meal  when  I  espied  a 
patriarch  coming  down  the  road  towards  me.  He  carried 
the  conventional  little  basket  and  shovel  on  his  shoulder, 
and  in  the  conventional  manner  was  strolling  out  on  the 
highway  to  improve  the  shining  minutes  gathering 
manure.  In  response  to  my  salutation  :  *' What  is  your 
honourable  surname?"  he  replied:  *^My  base  name  is 
Wan.''  "What  is  your  worthy  given  name?"  His 
eyes  bulged  at  such  politeness  to  a  peasant,  and  he  an- 
swered, "Ping  An"  (my  given  name  is  Peaceful). 
"What  is  your  venerable  age?"  I  continued.  At  this 
marked  courtesy  to  a  plain  old  farmer  he  stuttered  with 
delight,  holding  up  his  fingers  in  the  expressive  count- 
ing fashion  of  old  Chinese  men.  In  impressive  silence  I 
read  "seventy-seven."  Then,  with  the  polite  consid- 
eration for  the  learner  of  their  language  that  character- 
izes the  peoples  of  Europe  and  Asia,  as  it  does  not 
Americans,  the  old  man  gravely  bowed  and  said  with 
emphasis :  "You  speak  Chinese  as  though  you  had  your 
cof&u  bought  and  your  grave-clothes  prepared  " — a  high 
compliment,  indeed,  and  wholly  undeserved.  This  was 
his  way  of  saying:  "You  speak  just  right,  correctly, 
like  a  native.  Your  language  is  as  proper  as  is  the 
social  condition  of  that  parent  whose  dutiful  children 
have  made  all  rightful  preparations,  ordained  of  custom, 


138  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

for  liis  fittiDg  burial,  so  that  he  may  daily  look  with 
paternal  pride  upon  his  huge  cof&n,  also  his  last  habili- 
ments safely  stored  in  his  own  chest,  and  awaiting  his 
dissolution  !'' 

Scrutinizing  me  with  increasing  interest,  the  old  man 
was  finding  his  tongue  and  massing  his  words  for  a  rak- 
ing cannonade  of  inquiry,  so  to  speak.  He  loosed  upon 
me  a  bombardment  of  long  pent-up  curiosity.  And  out  of 
all  the  fireworks  of  words  I  learned  that  he  had  never  in 
all  his  '*born  days"  seen  a  real  foreign  devil;  that  he 
had  always  longed  to  gaze  upon  at  least  one  such  strange 
creature  before  being  gathered  to  the  shades  of  his  ances- 
tors ;  that  he  had  often  contemplated  making  the  journey 
to  Tsingtau  for  this  very  special  and  highly  desirable 
purpose,  despite  the  heavy  expense  and  loss  of  time  it 
would  entail.  And  now  before  his  very  eyes,  near  the 
home  of  his  fathers,  on  the  very  highroad  indeed,  he 
had,  in  broad  daylight,  run  right  into  one !  Surely  he 
was  born  under  a  lucky  star,  and  his  presiding  genius 
was  good  !    Now  he  could  depart  in  peace  ! 

The  old  man  bowed  and  bowed  himself  out  of  my 
presence,  and  started  off  again  on  the  treadmill  round  of 
his  existence.  Then  he  turned  and  came  back.  Quite 
unabashed  now,  he  confidently  placed  his  hand  on  my 
arm.  Out  of  his  half-closed,  unwashen  eyes,  running 
with  sores,  he  peered  intently  at  me,  scanning  my  face 
through  and  through — every  lineament — as  if  searching 
my  soul.  Such  a  hungry  look— and  I  have  seen  many  in 
China— I  have  rarely  met.  Divining  his  meaning,  I  laid 
my  hand  on  his  shoulder  and  said,  *'My  venerable 
brother,  you  have  spoken  of  my  Chinese  as  being  like  *  a 
coffin  purchased  and  grave-clothes  prepared.'  But  are 
you  ready  to  pass  beyond  ?  "  A  long  silence  as  we  gazed 
at  each  other.  His  bent,  withered  frame  shook.  He 
pulled  out  an  old  dirty  rag,  such  as  hangs  tied  to  the 


SOWING  THE  GOOD  SEED  139 

blouse  of  the  countryinau,  and  whicli  serves  as  towel, 
handkerchief,  and  wash-cloth  combined,  and  wiped  away 
his  teai-s.  At  last  he  said  :  ^*  I  fear  to  die.  I  have  no 
hope,  no  hope  !  "  I  told  him  of  the  Overcomer  of  death, 
and  the  resurrection  hope.  And  then  after  a  prayer  we 
parted,  probably  never  to  meet  again  till  at  the  great 
assize.  But  for  mouths  that  mournful  speech  and  hope- 
less manner,  the  more  melancholy  because  indicative  of 
millions  of  others  here,  have  haunted  me. 

The  obligation  to  this  sort  of  work  is  the  more  impera- 
tive because  of  the  present  accessibility  of  the  people. 
The  remarkable  fact  is  that  so  many  people  when  ap- 
proached are  willing  to  listen.  Frequently  they  are  sus- 
picious of  the  foreigner  and  afraid  of  the  tract  which  he 
attempts  to  hand  them.  I  have  repeatedly  had  a  man 
refuse,  saying  ;  **The  tract  that  you  have  just  given  to 
one  of  my  neighbours  is  sufficient  for  the  village.'^  But 
usually  they  are  willing  to  receive  these  expositions  of 
Scripture  ;  and  they  open  the  way  usually  to  an  explana- 
tion of  the  Gospel  and  to  the  gathering  of  a  small  group 
at  least  to  listen  to  that  exposition.  Almost  any  person 
with  whom  I  have  yet  experimented  seems  willing  to 
halt  in  his  tracks— the  farmer  in  his  field,  the  tradesman 
in  his  store,  the  pilgrim  on  a  journey,  the  peasant  en 
route  to  market,  the  lounger  on  the  village  street, — and 
to  listen  courteously,  often  eagerly,  to  what  we  have  to 
say,  politely  bowing  as  we  leave.  Imagine  thus  invad- 
ing a  business  man's  time  in  America  ! 

Sitting  down  beside  the  road  and  talking  with  "  these 
least"  about  their  souls  brings  a  new  and  blessed  realiza- 
tion of  the  meaning  of,  **  There  is  joy  in  the  presence  of 
the  angels  of  God  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth."  **  I 
had  always  thought,"  said  a  worker  who  had  come  to 
know  Christ  in  power,  **  that  this  meant  that  the  angels 
were  glad.     But  now  a  new  meaning  flashed  out  from  the 


140  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

verse.  It  is  not  speaking  of  the  angels'  joy.  It  is  Christ's 
joy,  and  all  heaven  knows  about  it.  What  a  privilege 
to  bring  such  a  joy  to  our  Lord  that  the  angels  see  it 
lighting  up  His  face  !  And  this  joy  comes,  not  when  a 
nation  is  converted,  but  when  one  sinner  repents.  How 
infinitely  is  the  fruit  of  our  service  multiplied  when  it 
reaches  to  heaven  ! "  And  there  is  no  limit  to  the  op- 
portunity of  sowing  seed  along  the  road  unto  such 
fruitage. 

In  the  list  of  outfit  requirements  for  the  ideal  village 
street  preacher  you  must  put  down,  inter  alia,  the  follow- 
ing :  A  constitution  of  iron,  lungs  of  brass,  the  voice  of 
Stentor,  the  patience  of  Job,  and  the  ability  to  hang  on 
amid  conditions  peculiarly  distracting.  For  the  preacher 
has  to  get  in  his  message  edgewise,  so  to  speak,  and  he 
must  have  the  ability  to  sing  and  speak  and  hold  his  own 
against  every  conceivable  variety  of  noise  made  by  men 
and  women,  barrows  and  babies,  and  boys  and  dogs  and 
donkeys  and  all  else  that  goes  to  make  up  the  strident 
doings  of  the  village  street. 

A  regular  method  of  procedure  is  to  go  into  a  new 
*'raw  heathen"  section,  accompanied  by  several  evan- 
gelists, or  Christians  who  have  volunteered  time  for  a 
period  of  days,  or  both  j  and,  as  systematically  as  pos- 
sible, to  preach  through  all  that  region.  We  usually 
eat  and  sleep  together,  that  is  in  the  same  room,  rough- 
ing it  as  best  we  may.  Each  morning,  after  a  united 
family  worship,  we  set  out  two  by  two,  in  apostolic 
fashion.  The  general  direction  in  which  each  pair  is  to 
work  has  usually  been  decided  upon  in  conference  the 
previous  evening  by  the  band  leader  ;  and  it  is  the  holy 
ambition  of  each  pair  to  reach  as  many  of  the  multi- 
tudinous villages  as  possible  during  the  day,  before  it  is 
time  to  return  to  the  central  meeting  place.  After 
supper  all  gather  together  for  evening  worship,  to  plan 


SOWING  THE  GOOD  SEED  141 

the  campaign  and  to  rehearse,  like  the  Seventy  of  old, 
what  they  have  seen  and  heard  and  done — the  manner 
of  their  reception,  hopeful  and  discouraging  features  of 
it,  persecution,  if  any,  special  cases  on  which  they  need 
counsel  and  happenings  of  peculiar  interest ;  above  all, 
to  5£ay  for 'God's  blessing  upon  the  witness  made  for 
Him.  Such  a  program  means  hard,  wearing  days; 
scanty  and  often — usually — cold  lunches  upon  the  road 
— a  thing  the  Chinese  detest ;  and  mental  and  physical 
weariness  at  night.  But  this  is  just  what  our  Blessed 
Lord  experienced  on  the  way  as  He  went  from  village  to 
village  proclaiming  the  Kingdom  of  God.  And  when  one 
is  tired  for  the  Gospel's  sake,  it  is  a  peculiar  comfort  to 
realize  that  He  is  the  Yoke-Fellow  in  all  this:  ^*LoI 
am  with  you  all  the  days.^' 

By  way  of  introduction  to  the  local  scene  of  operation 
the  reader  may  be  told  that  there  is  usually  in  front  of 
each  house- wall  on  the  one  thoroughfare  wide  enough  to 
be  dignified  by  the  name  of  **  the  village  street"  a  pile 
of  stuff  that,  by  a  large  stretch  of  the  poetic  license,  may 
be  called  an  earth-mound.  It  is  the  accumulation  of  the 
yard  and  stable  within,  gathered  for  months,  and  plas- 
tered over  sometimes  with  mud,  and  left  to  the  four  winds 
of  heaven  and  to  the  olfactories  of  the  passers-by  '^to 
work  "  until  such  time  as  the  owner  chooses  to  spread  it 
upon  the  soil  of  his  garden  or  grain  plot.  Such  a  coign 
of  vantage,  when  hard  and  dry,  is  often  chosen  for  a  pul- 
pit. And  could  an  outsider  know  the  crowd  and  see  how 
closely  they  sometimes  press  the  speaker,  often  well-nigh 
to  smothering,  they  would  realize  the  value  of  even  this 
makeshift  speaker's  platform. 

Outside  the  village  the  two  evangelists  have  halted  for 
earnest  prayer  before  tackling  their  hard  proposition. 
They  would  hardly  dare  enter  without  that,  and  so, 
strengthened  by  His  might  in  the  inner  man,  they  ad- 


143  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

vance  to  the  ordeal  of  the  street.  As  they  pass  along  in 
front  of  the  house  yards,  one  after  another  the  villagers 
begin  to  flow  towards  them  ;  and  by  the  time  they  have 
mounted  the  rostrum  and  sung  the  first  verse  of  a  hymn 
a  strong  tide  of  human  beings  has  set  in  towards  them. 

If  the  cold  north  wind  has  had  its  innings  and  spring 
has  really  begun  there  will  be  evidence  by  many  infallible 
proofs — the  youngsters  are  running  about  naked,  and 
their  elders  are  wearing  less  than  the  canons  of  the 
politest  Western  society  would  deem  superfluous. 

Picture  if  you  can  such  a  gospel-hearing  audience — 
some  standing,  others  squatting  in  their  Chinese  fashion 
**at  ease,'^  a  position  that  makes  your  own  limbs  ache 
even  to  look  at  them,  or  else  sitting  in  the  dust  that  is 
blown  in  gusts  up  and  down  the  dirty  street— all,  I  say, 
except  that  front-row,  esoteric  circle  of  more  interested 
adults  and  more  curious  youngsters.  They  have  eaten 
things  of  indescribable  odoriferousuess,  and  in  utter  dis- 
regard for  the  speaker's  eyes,  nose  and  throat,  they, 
standing  in  solid  phalanx,  as  it  were,  ring  him  round. 
Edging  up  ever  closer,  they  remind  me,  not  so  much  of 
a  glacier  ever  moving  irresistibly  onward  as  of  a  gang 
of  redskins  closing  in  relentlessly  upon  a  victim  tied  to  a 
post. 

It  is  a  curious  spectacle  as  they  come  trooping  towards 
one  :  old  men  hobbling  on  their  staves  who  seize  the  ear- 
liest opportunity  to  rest  their  weary  bones  by  sitting 
down  in  the  dust,  face  on  knees,  eyes  closed,  prepared  to 
listen — more  probably  to  sleep  ;  children  running  hard 
in  expectation  of  unique  excitement  and  fortified  against 
the  exigencies  of  the  hour  by  a  bunch  of  leeks  in  one 
hand  and  in  the  other  a  raw  turnip  or  something  else 
equally  germ-laden,  and  voraciously  gnawed,  peel  and 
all,  their  naked  bellies  protruding  almost  to  bursting 
with  the    nests  of  worms  working  within  j    strapping 


SOWING  THE  GOOD  SEED  143 

young  bucks  who  stroll  leisurely  towards  the  scene  of 
action,  the  while  taking  huge  bites  of  their  dinner  of  hot, 
boiled  sweet  potatoes,  and  who  then  squat  down  for  a 
comfortable  smoke,  as  if  the  end  and  aim  of  existence 
were  attained  by  repeatedly  filling  their  tiny  pipe-bowls 
out  of  their  long  tobacco  pouches,  and  then  interminably 
striking  their  flints,  passing  lights,  borrowing  tobacco, 
exchanging  neighbourly  whiffs  and  making  a  running 
fire  of  comment  on  the  foreign  speaker's  grotesque 
clothes  and  generally  queer  appearance. 

The  women,  timidly,  but  eaten  up  by  curiosity,  also 
come  ;  some  hurry,  some  straggle  along — but  always 
painfully  on  their  tiny  feet ;  often  each  one  weighted 
with,  or  absorbed  in  the  care  of,  a  babe  or  two  ;  to  sit 
cautiously  on  the  filthy  heaps  at  a  slight  distance  or  to 
crouch  at  their  bases — all  except  those  whose  age  and 
ugliness  allow  of  greater  freedom  of  action  and  nearer 
access.  To  concentrate  their  thoughts  on  the  preacher's 
theme  is  no  light  task.  Poor  creatures  !  vacant-headed, 
shrill-voiced.  It  is  hard  to  interest  them  in  that  for 
which  the  preachers  came.  The  monotony  of  their  yard 
existence,  its  unending  drudgery,  its  sterility  of  spirit, 
the  callousness  of  the  life  that  impinges  upon  them,  the 
helplessness,  lack  of  sympathy,  abuse  and  cruelty  that 
press  them  down — all  these,  and  more ;  the  foul  things 
that  only  they  know  have  done  their  bruising,  soiling, 
deadening  work  upon  their  bodies  and  spirits. 

Yonder  sits  a  young  mother  in  the  middle  of  the  road, 
glancing  up  occasionally,  listening  a  little,  but  princi- 
pally intent  on  rolling  her  naked  darling  in  the  filth  of 
the  street  about  her,  to  the  unalloyed,  chuckling  delight 
of  the  youngster,  while  she  beams  upon  him  with  mother- 
joy. 

Slinking  behind  the  others  is  a  pitiful  looking  creature, 
her  face  more  distorted  than  the  others,  with  the  hard 


144  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

lines  of  abuse  and  neglect  and  lovelessness  branded  on 
her  forehead  ;  between  her  eyes  and  covering  the  upper 
part  of  her  nose,  an  ugly  bruise  of  greenish  hue — the 
marks  of  a  love-tap  imprinted  recently  by  her  husband, 
we  learned,  who  in  a  fit  of  anger  had  floored  her. 

In  the  nearer  group  is  here  and  there  an  aged  grand- 
father who  glances  repeatedly  with  pride  at  the  tender 
grandson  at  his  feet  who  is  to  continue  his  name  and  in- 
sure the  worship  of  his  three  spirits  after  his  demise. 
As  caretaker,  he  occasionally  reaches  forth  and,  picking 
up  a  stone  or  chunk  of  dirt  in  lieu  of  handkerchief,  wipes 
the  nose  of  the  young  hopeful.  Sauntering  back  and 
forth  among  the  crowd  are  proud  young  papas,  hugging 
boy  youngsters  in  all  states  of  dishabille,  and,  in  lieu  of 
clothes,  warming  them  against  their  own  skins.  The 
youngsters  are  all  spoiled  and  tyrants,  knowing  only  too 
well  their  power.  They  keep  their  dads  on  the  move, 
jolting  and  amusing  them,  any  halt  eliciting  a  howl. 
There  are  also  plenty  of  big  burly  loungers  frightfully 
pock-marked.  They  are  illustrations  of  the  law  of  the 
survival  of  the  fittest,  a  law  that  throughout  all  heathen- 
dom works  itself  out  with  such  harshness  as  dwellers  in  a 
Christian  land  cannot  understand.  Only  iron  constitu- 
tions could  have  resisted  the  attacks  that  had  been  made 
upon  these  fellows.  Wandering  in  and  out  among  the 
crowd  were  two  youngsters,  only  half- recovered  from  their 
dread  disease,  and  such  terrible  looking  objects  that  even 
the  Chinese,  hardened  to  all  kinds  of  sights  of  physical 
distress  and  loathsomeness,  and  indifferent  as  they  are  to 
contagion,  draw  back  from  them. 

Once  an  old  man,  who  had  looked  so  attentively  that  I 
thought  he  was  really  interested  in  the  message,  limped 
up  to  our  dirt-piled  platform  and  asked  :  **  Do  foreigners 
never  have  smallpox  ?  '^  He  had  heard  that  all  from  the 
West  have  smooth  faces  (i.  e.,  unmarked  by  the  pox). 


SOWING  THE  GOOD  SEED  145 

To  his  mind  this  was  incredible,  as  the  country  folk  be- 
lieve that  few  or  none  can  escape  the  smallpox,  it  being 
heaven's  decree  that  all  get  **  the  flower  "  (as  they  mock- 
humorously  call  it).  Why  should  any  one  vainly  seek 
to  avoid  the  inevitable  decree  of  heaven  ? 

The  apparently  impossible  feat  of  the  human  mind,  of 
giving  attention  to  two  things  at  once,  seemed  to  be  per- 
formed repeatedly  before  our  eyes,  as  those  in  the  audi- 
ence, with  their  eyes  glued  on  the  speaker,  would  vigor- 
ously blow  their  noses,  and  then  raising  their  bare  feet — 
perhaps  mechanically  as  a  pianist  strikes  a  key-board — 
use  their  heels  for  handkerchiefs,  never  moving  the 
head  or  even  relaxing  the  gaze.  It  is  not  always  easy 
for  a  speaker  to  maintain  his  gravity,  as  a  whole  gamut 
of  vigorous,  droll,  and  ever-changing  and  unexpected 
action  punctuates  his  points. 

All  the  while  the  village  curs  are  snapping  and  fight- 
ing their  way,  often  between  the  legs  of  the  crowd,  the 
battle  raging  back  and  forth  in  a  manner  reminding  one 
of  the  zigzag  eddying  fortunes  of  a  football  match,  as  the 
changing  exigencies  of  attack  and  defense  drive  the 
players  hither  and  yon  over  the  gridiron.  Also  heavily- 
laden  barrows  with  ungreased,  screeching  wheels  add 
their  lively  quota  of  confusion  to  the  scene,  as  the  sweat- 
ing, naked-waisted  pushers  shout  hoarsely  for  passage, 
and  at  times  run  through  the  hastily  scattered  crowd 
to  keep  pace  with  the  affrighted  animals  pulling  the 
vehicles. 

A  placidly  peaceful  element  in  the  picture  is  a  group, 
here  and  there,  whose  members  are  engaged  in  a  ''head 
hunt,"  while,  above  all  the  din,  rises  the  immoderate 
laughter  of  an  idiot,  running  loose  and  bantered,  even 
harried  to  violence,  by  the  village  boys,  his  tones,  as  he 
fights  them  off,  strident,  vacant,  wild  and  creepy.  Here 
is  near  approach  to  beast  nature,  the  spiritual  in  him 


146  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

starved  and  stunted,  abused  and  outraged  beyond  reason- 
able hope  of  recovery.  In  village  heathenism  who  has 
time  or  inclination  or  real  interest  or  power  to  pity  such  I 

The  good- will  of  the  crowd  is  shown  in  the  fact  that 
here,  as  in  many  another  place,  members  of  it  had  brought 
us  stools  to  sit  on,  and  hot  water.  Not  to  drink  it  was 
impolite  j  to  drink  it  involved  mental  uneasiness  far  out- 
weighing the  physical  inconvenience  of  a  dry,  dust-laden 
throat.  The  teacups — often  the  blacker  with  ancient 
grime,  apparently,  in  proportion  as  they  are  the  politer 
vehicle  of  hospitality — are  ostentatiously  wiped  by  the 
impromptu  host  with  an  indescribable  rag  serving  as 
combined  handkerchief,  towel  and  cloth  factotum,  pulled 
out  of  an  equally  indescribable  girdle.  The  insides  and 
edges  of  that  drinking  vessel  contained  enough  "  culture^* 
material  to  supply  simultaneously  almost  all  the  bac» 
teriological  laboratories  now  in  existence.  It  is  one  of 
those  many  experiences  into  which  the  itinerator  has  to 
plunge  and  trust  to  the  good  Lord  for  the  consequences. 

When  ready  to  depart,  to  repeat  the  process  of  explain- 
ing the  *^  Jesus  Doctrine  "  in  as  many  other  villages  that 
day  as  our  strength  and  time  would  permit,  we  were 
given  hearty  invitations  to  return.  As  we  moved  away 
I  took  pains  to  speak  to  an  old  woman  who  had  sat  a 
little  distance  off,  looking  intently  at  us  most  of  the  time, 
not  because  she  was  taking  in  the  teaching  but  because 
she  was  feasting  her  eyes  on  a,  to  her,  nine  days'  wonder 
—the  excitement  of  her  life— herself  filthy  to  a  degree 
and  sitting  in  the  dust  of  the  street^ — and  it  was  thick. 
Her  head  was  covered  with  it.  Beside  her  was  a  young 
girl,  naked  to  the  waist,  and  picking  lice  out  of  her  thin, 
spare  gray  locks.  This  was  not  peculiar  nor  exciting ; 
one  sees  it  everywhere  along  the  roadside  and  village 
streets.  While  preaching  here,  I  suppose  ten  or  twelve 
couples  had  thus  settled  themselves  down  comfortably  in 


SOWING  THE  GOOD  SEED  147 

the  sunshine,  to  be  within  hearing  of  *^the  doings,"  and 
at  the  same  time  imiDrove  the  shining  moments. 

It  is  always  the  safe  and  polite  thing  in  China  to  ask 
people  their  ages,  and  especially  so  the  older  they  grow. 
Noting  her  white  hair,  I  took  occasion  to  felicitate  her 
on  her  age,  expecting  to  follow  it  with  a  little  homily  on 
the  shortness  of  the  earth-time  yet  remaining  to  her.  She 
sighed  and  answered  in  almost  indentical  words,  spoken 
under  similar  circumstances  to  an  older  missionary  friend  : 
"Yes,  honourable  sire,  I  am  getting  old.  Indeed,  I  am 
aging  too  fast.  My  teeth  are  falling  out  so  rapidly  that 
I  can  no  longer  bite  lice ! " — referring  to  the  common 
aesthetic  practice  of  biting  in  two  captured  lice.  Often 
they  are  snipped  by  the  long  thumb-nail ;  but  so  annoy- 
ing are  these  ubiquitous  little  pests  that  the  finder  who 
does  the  snipping  occasionally  hands  the  owner  an  espe- 
cially juicy  one  upon  which  to  wreak  special  vengeance 
— well  deserved.  If  the  Lord  made  the  mosquitoes  to 
illustrate  the  malignity  of  the  Devil,  as  Horace  Bushnell 
averred,  is  it  irreverent  to  think  that  He  might  have 
made  the  Chinese  lice  and  fleas  for  the  same  purpose  1 

There  have  been  in  the  course  of  the  ages  many  inter- 
esting methods  of  reckoning  cycles  of  time,  from  that  of 
the  Greeks  who  measured  their  history  by  the  names  of 
victors  in  the  Olympic  games,  to  the  Chinese  in  Eastern 
Asia,  who  measured  by  the  name  of  the  emperor  of  the 
reigning  dynasty.  But  probably  this  old  woman's  method 
of  computation,  by  the  vigour  and  precision  with  which 
one's  teeth  can  slice  lice,  is  unique  in  chronometry. 

Let  any  cultured  man  or  woman  at  home  who  believes 
that  ** heathenism  is  good  enough  for  the  heathen,"  and 
who  deprecates  **the  foolishness  of  the  missionary  in 
stirring  up  the  heathen  to  become  dissatisfied  with  the 
religion  they  possess,' '  *'  with  the  religion  that  God  gave 
them,"  sit  down  and  think  through,  if  he  or  she  dare,  a 


148  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

few  of  the  implications  and  corollaries  of  heathen  life 
from  these  incidents  of  every-day  life.  Would  you  like 
to  be  left  in  their  condition  1 

This  narrative  may  jar  on  the  sesthetic  sensibility  of 
some  of  the  home  folks  j  but  it  is  just  because  men  are  so 
degraded  that  they  need  Christ  j  just  because  they  are 
under  the  bondage  of  iniquity  in  body,  mind  and  soul,  so 
lost  with  a  lostness  that  manifests  itself  in  every  phase  of 
life — physical,  mental  and  spiritual — that  God  in  the 
flesh  came  to  succour  them.  It  is  precisely  because  the 
heathen  world  is  so  repulsive,  unlike  the  lovely  and 
adorable  God,  out  of  tune  with  the  health  and  holiness 
of  the  Infinitely  Perfect  One,  that  He  sent  His  Best  Gift, 
the  Good  Paragon,  a  propitiatory  offering  of  infinite, 
inherent  merit,  to  change  all  this.  He  has  pitied  to  the 
utmost,  in  infinite  prodigality,  providing  the  Son  of  His 
dear  Love.  How  much  have  you  pitied  in  making 
known  the  hope  of  glory  through  that  Son  ? 

Such  days  of  evangelistic  activities  vitalize  one's  con- 
ception of  Jesus'  experience  of  having  no  time,  no,  not  so 
much  as  to  eat.  One's  opportunity  to  preach  here  to 
throngs  of  people,  who  require  no  drumming  up  or 
special  music  or  extra  exhortation  or  advertisement,  is 
limited  only  by  one's  physical  endurance.  For  the  mere 
effort  of  singing  a  hymn,  standing  in  the  narrow,  filthy, 
lane-like  streets,  one  can  often  have  many  members  of 
the  village  for  an  audience. 

Every  class  and  condition  of  the  village  is  represented. 
There  are  small  children,  exceedingly  dirty,  often  fright- 
fully covered  with  syphilitic  sores  ;  blear-eyed,  shaky  old 
men ;  lusty  young  bucks,  heralding  their  grown-up-ness 
by  self-consciously  sucking  their  big-mouthed  pipes  j  and 
ubiquitous  boys,  crawling  around  the  feet  of  the  speakers 
and  examining  their  clothes.  There  are  also  reserved 
village  scholars,  contemptuous  but  curious,  innocently 


SOWING  THE  GOOD  SEED  149 

pretending,  to  the  amusement  of  the  crowd,  inability  to 
read  the  tracts  handed  to  them.  There  are  also  proud 
papas  of  baby  boys,  hugging  their  young  hopefuls  to  their 
bosoms— for  in  lieu  of  fires,  the  Chinese  men  open  their 
numerous  layers  of  coats,  and  cause,  for  the  time  being, 
their  youngsters  to  hibernate,  as  it  were,  in  the  volumi- 
nous folds,  substituting  skin  heat  for  coal  heat.  This  is 
naturally  a  money-saving  process — provided  one  has  time 
to  carry  a  child  all  day  long,  week  in  and  week  out. 
Lined  up  near  by  along  the  mud  walls,  and  furtively  bnt 
vigorously  exchanging  stage-whispers  and  often  audible 
comments  about  the  novel  and  interesting  situation,  are 
ancient  dames,  hags  before  their  day.  A  little  farther  off 
groups  of  young  wives  are  lounging.  Occasionally  there 
is  among  them  one  "made  up"  for  a  visit  back  to  her 
own  family  in  another  village,  her  yellow  face  and  neck 
plastered  a  bright  pink,  as  ghastly  as  one  sees  on  the  boule- 
vards of  Paris— only  the  pigment  used  by  these  women 
poisons  their  systems.  Maidens  are  peeking  around 
corners,  their  faces  often  drawn  with  physical  pain,  often 
expressive  of  wretchedness  and  despair.  The  fear  and 
vacuity  and  sorrow  of  their  pathetic  lives — all  is  evidenced 
before  us.  The  appearance  of  these  women  reminds  one 
grotesquely  of  Civil  War  veterans  stumping  around  on 
their  wooden  legs ;  for  with  their  trousers  tightly  wound 
around  their  ankles  and  lower  limbs  and  these  emaciated 
members  capping  their  tiny  mutilated  feet,  the  nether 
parts  of  these  unfortunates  could  well  pass  muster  as 
counterparts  of  the  ''pins"  which  glorified  the  heroes 
we  used  to  run  away  from  school  to  admire  around  their 
camp-fires. 

It  is  well-nigh  impossible  for  home  friends  to  conceive 
of  such  an  audience,  but  what  impresses  the  itinerator 
most  about  them,  no  less  than  about  individuals  met 
along  the  road,  is  their  accessibility  to  the  Gospel  now. 


150  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

The  willingness  of  heathen  to  hear  as  one  goes  among 
the  villages  is  shown,  for  instance,  thus :  One  summer 
afternoon  a  Christian  and  I  had  battled  our  way  through 
a  driving  dust  storm — a  wind  having  suddenly  blown  up 
fierce  and  hot — to  a  certain  village.  We  were  given 
asylum  in  an  inn.  It  mattered  not  that  the  air  was 
choking  with  dust — the  people  came  and  listened.  All 
the  afternoon  men  crowded  into  that  foul,  ill-smelling, 
darkened  room  to  hear  the  Gospel.  And  towards  sun- 
down, when  the  wind  abated,  the  entire  village,  as  it 
seemed,  sat  or  stood  around  in  the  dust  of  the  main  street 
to  hear  the  Word. 

On  another  summer  day  we  reached  a  village  at  noon. 
We  were  fagged — hungry  and  thirsty.  The  people  readily 
gave  us  food  and  drink,  and  then  they  settled  down  on  the 
threshing-floor,  hemming  us  in,  a  solid  circle  of  them — 
patriarchs,  ancient  dames,  the  middle-aged,  youths  and 
children — to  listen  to  all  we  would  tell  them.  We  pro- 
tested it  was  their  eating  time,  but  they  made  light  of 
that  weighty  consideration.  One  by  one  workmen  came 
in  from  the  fields  and  joined  them — and  stayed  till 
we  were  ready  to  depart.  Thrifty  housewives  hastily 
brought  unfinished  quilts  and  other  needlework  from 
their  houses  and  settled  down  comfortably  (?),  ready  to 
listen.  When  we  left  the  heat  of  the  day  had  been 
broken.  It  was  their  busy  season,  the  period  of  three 
meals  a  day  ;  many  had  not  eaten  their  noon  meal,  or  sat 
crunching  a  cold  snatch.  Still  they  urged  us  to  stay  and 
to  expound  more  at  length  the  Jesus  Doctrine. 

In  a  third  village  we  were  caught  by  the  rain.  At 
first  it  sifted  down,  thin  and  misty,  and  the  crowd  stayed 
by  us  in  the  street.  When  it  finally  set  in  hard,  they 
provided  a  large  empty  storeroom  for  us ;  and,  hastily 
changing  our  base,  we  continued  the  preaching,  a  spirit 
of  marked  interest  prevailing.     Each  group  of  workers 


SOWING  THE  GOOD  SEED  161 

reported  like  experiences  of  eager  listeners  in  all  villages 
visited. 

In  such  blessed  work  the  preacher  cannot  be  other  than 
heartened  and  sustained,  because  he  leans  on  the  sure 
promise  of  God  :  *^  My  word  shall  not  return  unto  me 
void,  but  it  shall  accomplish  that  which  I  please,  and  it 
shall  prosper  in  the  thing  whereto  I  sent  it ' '  (Isaiah 
55 :  11). 

It  has  been  estimated  that  *Mf  one  hundred  and  forty 
millions  of  people  live  in  the  walled  cities  of  China,  three 
hundred  million  must  live  in  the  myriads  of  villages  that 
everywhere  stud  the  landscape  and  make  the  country 
throb  with  life.'^  Very  few  of  the  vast  peasant  popula- 
tion live  in  isolated  houses ;  they  dare  not ;  they  band 
together  for  mutual  protection.  In  Shantung  Province, 
on  the  great  plain,  in  my  station  field,  within  a  radius 
of  fifteen  li  (five  miles),  there  have  been  counted  from 
ninety  to  one  hundred  and  ten  villages — within  a  radius 
of  three  miles  were  counted  sixty-four  villages — with  a 
carefully  estimated  population  of  sixty  thousand,  two 
hundred  souls,  or  more  than  two  thousand  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  to  the  square  mile.  This  is  four  times 
the  average  density  of  the  population  of  Belgium,  which 
is  the  most  thickly  inhabited  country  of  the  European 
continent — or  was,  before  its  decimation.  Had  Christ 
been  able  to  walk  among  the  masses  of  this  great  people 
when  He  was  on  earth.  He  surely  would  have  had  com- 
passion on  them,  for  they  peculiarly  are  *^  as  sheep  with- 
out a  shepherd.'' 

To  appreciate  something  of  what  it  means  to  do  evan- 
gelistic work  in  a  peasant  home  it  is  necessary  to  look  in 
upon  such  a  house  and  yard,  typical  of  scores  of  millions. 
This  vast  multitude  of  peasant  folk  live  congested  in  low, 
filthy,  one-story  houses  ;  mud -floored  and  poorly  lighted 
(and  this  light  darkened  by  opaque  paper  stretched  across 


152  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

the  window  frames),  the  mud  walls  black  with  soot  and 
full  of  cracks  for  the  lodgment  of  vermin,  the  corn-stalk 
ceiling  heavy  with  cobwebs  and  with  all  that  has  paid 
toll  to  them. 

The  ordinary  peasant  house  consists  of  three  small 
rooms,  joined  end  to  end,  all  facing  south,  the  entrance 
being  through  the  middle  room  which  does  duty  for 
kitchen,  dining-room  and  reception  hall.  One  of  the 
side  rooms  is  the  family  bedroom,  the  other  is  the 
granary,  storeroom,  attic,  tool-room  and  catch-all.  It 
also  does  duty  as  a  guest  room  :  but  I  can  testify  that  be- 
tween the  irrigating  pump,  the  winnowing  machine, 
plow,  drag,  loom,  lumber,  coffins,  baskets,  and  a  few 
other  impedimenta  apt  to  be  there,  the  foreign  guest 
often  has  to  exercise  some  ingenuity  and  exert  some 
strength  cleaning  house  in  order  to  find  a  place  for  his 
folding  cot. 

In  such  a  domicile  may  be  found  a  family  consisting  of 
three  generations — parents,  sons,  daughters-in-law  and  a 
swarm  of  youngsters — all  in  the  closest  proximity  to  a 
dozen  chickens,  several  pigs,  dogs  and  plow  animals.  I 
do  not  mean  that  all  lie  under  the  same  roof,  though  fre- 
quently I  have  seen  the  ox  and  the  ass  share  the  house 
with  the  family.  In  any  case  it  is  a  poor  enough  make- 
shift for  a  *^  home."  Apropos  of  this  condition  Western- 
ers have  often  been  told  that  the  character  that  in  the 
Chinese  written  language  means  ^'home  "  is  made  by  in- 
dicating a  pig  under  a  roof. 

Each  little  walled  yard,  facing  the  hut  door,  is,  though 
the  "front  yard,"  also  the  barn-yard.  One  window  in 
each  of  the  end  rooms  looks  out  upon  this  yard.  In 
front  of  the  small  window  on  the  left  is  the  peiig  (the 
lean-to)  open  towards  the  yard,  where  the  unmusical 
donkey  or  patient  ox,  or  both,  stand  under  the  same 
roof  and  practically  in  the  same  stall.     Under  the  same 


SOWING  THE  GOOD  SEED  153 

roof  is  often  found  the  ponderous  two-stoned  family  grist- 
mill— turned  by  the  women  of  the  household  (in  case 
there  is  no  family  donkey,  or  in  case  he  is  otherwise  en- 
gaged). In  any  case  the  women  are  usually  assigned  to 
the  delightfully  aesthetic  and  highly  stimulating  mental 
occupation  of  following  the  grinder,  whether  human  or 
beast,  around  and  around  the  grinding  stones,  hour  after 
hour,  week  in  and  week  out,  to  transform,  as  occasion  re- 
quires, the  raw  grain  into  a  coarse  flour,  or  the  beans 
into  a  curdish  consistency  that  looks  like  thin  Dutch 
cheese. 

Immediately  under  the  small  room  at  the  right  is  the 
pig-pen,  fronted  by  a  pit  that  may  be  eight  feet  square, 
larger  in  an  inn-yard.  Into  this  is  thrown  all  the  offal 
from  the  stable  and  the  general  filth  of  the  yard.  Con- 
fusion worse  confounded  often  reigns  in  that  little  clut- 
tered area.  By  a  steep  stairway  of  brick  or  stone  the 
pigs  clamber  up  and  down  into  this  pit  of  filth,  at  night 
to  grunt  and  squeal  and  fight  under  a  cover  that  abuts 
against  the  house. 

Living  thus,  without  opportunity  for  the  ordinary 
decencies  and  the  necessary  privacies,  often  without  love 
or  with  positive  hate,  and  lacking  all  chivalry  towards 
the  women,  the  **  weaker  vessels,^'  and  without  Christ  as 
honoured  guest,  it  is  easy  to  imagine  what  dullness, 
dreariness  and  depression  must  characterize  the  pitifully 
vacant  home  life  of  that  vast  people.  The  physical 
squalor  is  matched  by  the  mental  crampedness  and  the 
spiritual  barrenness.  The  vacuity  and  starvedness  of 
such  a  life  beggar  description.  Multitudes  of  villagers 
who  live  only  a  few  miles  from  a  German  railroad  have 
never  seen  one  of  the  **fire  carts.''  To  them  it  is  too 
suggestive  of  the  Old  Dragon  for  willing  proximity. 
Multitudes  who  live  near  the  coast  of  this  long  penin- 
sular province  have  never  seen  the  sea.    A  **boy"  (a 


164  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

man  twenty-five  years  old),  who  for  a  time  made  my  food 
when  I  was  out  in  the  country,  had  never  looked  upon 
the  "  iron  horse"  until  he  once  met  me  at  a  country  rail- 
way station. 

The  lighter  side  of  all  this  may  be  seen  in  such  episodes 
as  the  following,  told  me  by  a  missionary  friend.  ^'  One 
of  the  boys  who  had  been  graduated  from  his  local  village 
school,  and  who  had  probably  never  been  five  miles  away 
from  home,  was  tramping  en  route  to  our  High  School. 
Suddenly,  upon  sight  of  one  of  the  little  arms  of  the  sea, 
he  stopped  in  amazement  saying  :  ^*  Che  moa  si  sui  si 
tsung  na  li  lai  ti  ?  "  (So  much  water  as  all  this — where 
did  it  come  from  ?) 

We  were  one  day  bound  for  the  home  of  a  heathen 
mountaineer,  far  up  the  valley.  The  man  and  his  wife 
were  aged  and  they  with  their  four  sons  and  daughters- 
in-law  and  grandchildren  all  lived  in  an  incredibly  small 
yard  and  hut.  The  only  hold  that  we  had  upon  the 
family  was  that  the  youngest  son  now  married  and 
labouring  hard  to  eke  out  the  scanty  family  sustenance, 
had  once  attended  one  of  our  Mission  schools.  Through 
the  wedge  of  that  village  school  we  had  entrance  to  that 
home  which  otherwise  would  have  been  closed  to  us. 
Moreover,  we  were  going  to  sympathize  and  console  with 
the  parents,  whose  daughter  had  recently  committed  sui- 
cide in  the  home  of  her  mother-in-law  to  spite  the  mem- 
bers of  her  husband's  family,  thereby  bringing  great 
trouble  upon  the  family  and  village. 

Arrived  at  the  village  of  our  quest  we  found  the  home 
we  sought  on  the  bank  of  a  small  mountain  stream.  Our 
approach  was  heralded  by  the  fierce  barking  of  dogs. 
As  we  proceeded  gingerly  into  the  yard  they  showed  their 
teeth  in  a  manner  that  meant  business.  Though  it  was 
then  past  supper  time,  the  father  and  sons  were  still 
planting  sweet  potatoes  out  in  their  fields,  if  fields  they 


SOWING  THE  GOOD  SEED  155 

conld  be  called.  For  these  fields  consist  merely  of  small 
patches  of  ground  laboriously  made  on  the  mountainside, 
each  terraced  with  stone  still  more  laboriously  prepared. 
Inside  the  yard  was  an  open  lean-to  in  which  two  donkeys 
and  an  ox  were  feeding.  The  yard  was  so  contracted  that 
there  was  only  a  small  space  between  these  animals  and 
the  doorways  of  a  small  L-shaped  hut.  In  that  space  sat 
the  daughters-in-law  in  the  filth  of  the  yard  (the  front 
yard  is  always  the  barn-yard  of  a  Chinese  peasant  estab- 
lishment) each  using  a  club,  pounding  sweet-potato 
stems.  So  reduced  were  they  for  food  before  the  spring 
vegetables  and  summer  wheat  arrived,  that  they  were 
now  eating  this  stuff  boiled  with  sweet- potato  leaves. 

On  seeing  us  the  daughters-in-law  ran  into  the  house. 
It  was  pitiful  to  think  of  the  condition  of  mind  that 
should  force  them  to  flee  and  peek  in  a  scared  manner 
around  the  corner  of  the  door.  There  needs  no  other 
suggestion  as  to  the  hygienic  condition  of  these  people 
than  to  intimate  that  under  the  ^'  ma  peng  "  (the  animal 
stall,  open  to  all  the  winds  and  dust  that  blew  down  the 
gusty  valley)  was  the  family  flour  mill.  And  right  there 
among  the  animals  these  two  great  stones  were  operated 
by  the  daughters-in-law,  to  produce  the  flour  that  they 
had  earlier  been  eating,  made  from  grinding  chips  of  raw 
sweet  potatoes,  welcome  food  that  had  long  since  been 
exhausted. 

The  old  mother  I  had  visited  once  before  when  the 
youngest  son  as  a  schoolboy  had  very  diffidently,  hesitat- 
ingly, and  fearfully  led  me  to  the  parental  home.  Often 
these  old  peasant  women,  hags  before  their  day,  are 
stupid,  already  blind  or  deaf  or  lame,  one  or  all  in  com- 
bination, and  shut  up  within  themselves,  their  life  almost 
a  blank.  Pictures  always  appeal  to  them,  just  as  they 
do  to  children.  We  had  brought  with  us  a  large  scroll 
of  Bible  pictures  and  produced  one,  *' Joseph  Forgiv- 


156  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

ing  His  Brethren."  We  put  it  up  on  the  wall.  Con- 
fucianism is  keen,  in  theory,  on  children  honouring  theii 
parents— on  their  not  only  not  forgetting  them,  but  car- 
ing for  them  in  their  age.  Communicating  with  them  in 
such  language  and  such  illustration  always  appeals  to 
the  Chinese  heart.  In  this  section  of  the  world  it  is  espe- 
cially telling  because  so  many  sons  have  gone  to  Man- 
churia in  search  of  fortune.  Some  of  them  have  never 
come  back,  as  was  the  case  of  a  son  in  this  family.  There 
is  hoping  against  hope  for  years,  to  hear  from  them. 
Some  who  have  never  returned  have  been  ungrateful  to 
parents  and  let  them  shift  from  bad  to  worse  in  helpless 
poverty.  When  the  question  is  put  to  the  Chinese  parent, 
as  we  put  it  that  day  to  the  old  lady,  ^*  What  would  you 
think  if  after  nourishing  your  four  sous,  caring  for  them 
in  their  helpless  infancy,  giving  them  food  and  clothes 
and  shelter — they  were  not  thankful  when  they  grew  up  ? 
Even  more,  if  they  never  spoke  to  youV  The  old 
woman's  eyes  flashed  anger  as  she  replied,  *' Very  bad, 
very  bad  ! ' '  "  But, "  we  said,  ' '  this  is  just  what  we  have 
done  here  in  this  home  to  the  Heavenly  Father.  He  has 
given  us,  year  in  and  year  out,  rain  and  sunshine  without 
which  our  sweet  potatoes  could  not  grow.  He  has  given 
us  the  trees  on  your  mountainside  for  fuel,  and  grass  for 
the  fodder  of  your  animals,  and  yet  all  your  life  you  have 
gone  to  the  temple  and  burned  incense  sticks  and  paper 
money  to  gods  that  your  carpenters  and  your  smiths  and 
your  plasterers  have  made,  outraging  the  true  God  who 
made  these  green  fields  and  the  sea  over  the  mountain 
wall  from  which  you  get  your  fish.  Do  you  think  God  is 
pleased  ?  He  tells  us  that  these  gifts  of  His  to  us  should 
daily  put  into  us  the  spirit  of  repentance.  Can  He  do 
less  than  punish  if  His  children  are  willfully  going  wrong  f 
What  would  you  do  ?  Would  you  also  not  in  love  punish 
your  children,   to  save  them  from  worse  misfortune"! 


SOWING  THE  GOOD  SEED  157 

Could  you  expect  that  your  suicide  daughter,  whom  you 
never  trained  to  honour  the  true  God,  could  honour  you  ? 
If  parents  do  not  rejoice  in  a  child  who  forgets  to  honour 
them,  can  the  Heavenly  Father?" 

This  old  woman  was  keen ;  her  eyes  snapped  with 
interest  and  she  even  was  in  a  mood  to  argue,  which  is 
quite  unusual  with  the  timid,  not  to  say  broken  old  women. 
She  said,  *^But  how  can  I  know  God?  I  cannot  see 
Him."  Then  she  started  to  ruminate.  **  Did  these  great 
mountains  make  themselves,  and  who  cleaved  this  val- 
ley!"  ^*  If  your  son  in  Manchuria  were  still  alive,  how 
would  you  know  that  he  was  alive?''  "Why,"  she 
said,  **he  would  send  me  a  letter."  *'Even  so,  God  has 
sent  us  a  letter,  even  His  book,  which  tells  us  all  about 
Him.  In  it  He  speaks  directly  to  us."  "  But  how  can  I 
get  in  touch  with  Him?"  "  Well,"  was  the  rejoinder, 
*  ^  how  do  your  children  get  in  touch  with  you  ?  "  "  Why, 
they  talk  to  me."  *^Even  so  we  talk  to  the  true  God. 
We  thank  Him  and  we  tell  Him  of  all  our  needs.  This 
talking  to  God — we  call  it  prayer!"  **But,"  she  an- 
swered, *^  I  don't  know  how  to  pray.  I  don't  know  how 
to  worship  God." 

To  a  foreigner  living  among  these  people  and  hearing 
such  words  out  of  the  anguish  of  spiritual  longing  in 
which  they  are  sometimes  spoken,  they  are  as  startling 
as  to  hear  what  we  can  hear  over  and  over  in  these  glens  : 
**I  have  never  yet  heard  of  Jesus."  To  say  that  these 
words  are  startling  in  the  twentieth  century,  in  view  of 
the  command  of  Jesus  and  the  opportunity  that  the 
Church  has  had  to  obey  His  command,  is  putting  it 
mildly  indeed.  "But,"  she  insisted,  "you  say  we  shall 
rise  again.  How  can  I  believe  that?  I  never  saw  a 
resurrection."  "Well,"  we  answered,  "have  you  ever 
thought  what  it  means  that  many  sweet  potatoes  will  grow 
from  one  slip?  or  that  many  grains  of  wheat  grow  on 


158  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

yonder  stalk  only  because  the  grain  that  was  planted  dies 
of  itself!"  "Except  a  kernel  of  wheat  fall  into  the 
ground  and  die  it  abideth  alone.  If  it  die,  it  bringeth 
forth  much  fruit."  Her  next  move  was  the  most  int-erest- 
ing  and  startling  of  all :  ^'  But  I  have  sinned,  I  have  no 
hope,  I  have  seen  the  hell  pictures  in  our  temple."  She 
was  referring  to  the  plaster  representations  in  the  near-by 
temple,  which  with  much  more  can  be  seen  in  the  Temple 
of  the  Under  World  in  each  walled  city,  where  demons 
of  the  Buddhist  faith,  grafted  upon  the  Chinese  Spirit 
Worship,  are  seen  putting  human  beings  through  well- 
nigh  every  sort  of  nameless  horrible  punishment  for  the 
deeds  done  in  the  flesh.  There  is  one  thing  about  heathen 
religions  that  makes  them  hateful  and  repulsive  beyond 
words.  They  not  only  drag  down  the  heathen  into 
deeper  sin,  not  only  make  them  sin  still  more  gravely 
against  the  light  they  have,  but  leave  them  with  abso- 
lutely no  hope.  Being  human,  they  can  offer  no  sugges- 
tion of  salvation,  no  glimmer  of  light  from  above.  Only 
the  religion  of  the  Son  of  God  coming  down  from  Heaven, 
and  not  Taoist  or  Confucian  priests,  has  wisdom  to  pierce 
the  future. 

These  priests  know  no  more  than  the  common  folk 
instinctively  know  ;  no  more  than  the  stupid  old  women 
of  China ;  no  more  than  that  we  have  sinned  and  we 
ought  to  suffer  for  our  sin.  Therefore  the  marvel  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  working  hope  and  faith  in  this  old  woman. 
As  she  gazed  at  the  picture  of  Joseph  suffering  for  and 
forgiving  his  brethren,  the  omnipotence  of  God  made 
plain  to  her  that  this  strong,  winsome,  self-sacrificing  son 
of  Jacob  was  a  type  of  the  Son  of  God.  He  set  forth  to 
her  the  possibility  of  getting  right  with  God.  Earlier 
she  had  said,  ^'I  am  too  old  to  believe  *'— the  remark  of 
many  another  aged  Chinese,  like  an  anguished  wail  from 
the  under  world.     But  now,  through  many  repetitions 


SOWING  THE  GOOD  SEED  169 

and  in  varied  form,  the  truth  was  brought  home  to  her 
mind,  dull  to  apprehend  such  grace  because  heretofore 
believing  it  to  be  inconceivable,  "Can  there  be  hope  for 
me  1 "  She  caught  at  it  like  a  drowning  man  at  a  straw. 
Earlier  she  had  said  :  *^  What  use?  When  I  die  I  shall 
become  a  snake  !^^ 

By  the  light  of  the  moon  the  men  of  the  family,  father 
and  sons,  staggered  into  the  courtyard  j  each  man  bowed 
with  his  burden  of  grass  or  fire-wood  cut  off  the  moun- 
tain, or  the  tools  of  labour.  Though  hungry  and  wearied 
with  the  work  of  a  long  day,  they  squatted  there  in  the 
moonlight  and  listened. 

One  of  the  first  fruits  of  that  visit  was  that  when  we 
left  that  night,  as  we  were  escorted  out,  the  old  woman, 
now  believing,  murmured  the  equivalent  of  "  Unworthy 
but  thankful  I  God  pities  me !  He  cares  for  a  worthless 
old  hulk  like  me.  Oh,  how  I  thank  Him  ! '  ^  In  heart- 
warming experiences  like  this  the  Gospel  messenger  gets 
a  new  conception  of  the  program  of  Christianity,  of 
Christ^ s  adaptability  to  every  human  being  on  the 
planet,  of  the  cosmic  reach  of  God^s  purpose  and  plan 
and  passion,  as  indicated  in  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  :  **I 
will  give  Thee  to  be  a  light  to  the  Gentiles,  that  Thou 
mayest  be  my  salvation  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth. ^' 

In  view  of  such  openings,  numberless,  no  opportunity 
to  accept  an  invitation  to  a  heathen  home  should  ever  be 
rejected.  It  may  under  the  blessing  of  God  result  in 
precious  fruitage.  Many  a  heathen  man  and  family  are 
looking  for  the  true  God.  In  our  field  I  have  in  mind  a 
one-time  heathen  school-teacher  whose  soul  had  long  been 
prepared  for  the  Gospel  message,  who,  when  it  was  pre- 
sented to  him  in  his  home,  speedily  embraced  it.  He  has 
now  for  years  been  one  of  our  best  pastors,  a  man  used 
in  a  large  way  among  three  churches  to  which  he  minis- 
ters.   Through  him  hundreds  of  souls  have  been  born 


160  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

into  the  kingdom.  He  confessed  that  as  soon  as  he  heard 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  and  what  He  could  do,  he  was  ready- 
to  accept  Him.  The  personal  worker  among  these  masses 
is  continually  reminded  of  the  pledge  of  the  Almighty  : 
*^  I  am  the  Lord  that  confirmeth  the  word  of  His  servant 
and  performeth  the  counsel  of  His  messengers.'* 


V 

The  Market  and  the  Tent 
A  Study  in  Itinerating  Methods 


V 

THE  MAEKET  AND  THE  TENT 

WITH  several  centuries  of  history  to  its  credit, 
China  naturally  has  acquired  many  deeply 
rooted  customs  and  institutions.  Dynasties 
have  risen,  their  ripples  have  subsided,  but  the  people 
have  moved  on  in  vast  unconcern — plowing,  sowing  and 
reaping  in  stolid  regardlessness  of  time  and  change.  One 
of  the  things  that  has  become  an  integral  part  of  their 
life  is  the  market,  held  every  five  days.  For  fear  of  rob- 
bers and  because  of  distrust  of  all  things  in  general,  the 
peasants  live  in  small  villages — not  apart,  each  man  on 
his  own  land  as  in  America.  Of  necessity,  these  primi- 
tive country  folk  must  often  come  together  in  these 
markets  to  buy  what  they  cannot  raise  or  make.  A 
great  exchange  takes  place  of  eatables  and  other  neces- 
sary and  useful  things.  These  markets  are  called  by  the 
numbers  of  the  days  of  the  month  when  they  are  held. 
For  example  :  the  market  of  one  town  is  1-6  ;  of  another, 
2-7  ;  of  another,  3-8 ;  of  still  another,  5-10,  etc.  From 
time  immemorial  these  buying  and  selling  bees  have  been 
held  in  certain  larger  and  more  important  villages,  cen- 
tral in  their  own  district.  Thus,  for  example,  a  market 
is  held  at  the  town  of  Shikou  (the  village  of  the  stone 
ravine)  1-6,  11-16,  21-26  ;  or  at  the  village  of  Hung  Lan 
Pu  (the  village  of  the  red  and  blue  cloth)  on  2-7,  22-27, 
etc. ;  or  at  the  village  of  Chi  Gi  (seven  chickens)  on  the 
**  three  "  dates  ;  or  at  the  village  of  the  little  hen  on  the 
*^four"  dates;  or  at  the  village  of  the  "river  of  the 
demon  source"  on  the    **five^^  dates,  etc.     Each  has 

163 


164  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

dates  that  do  not  interfere  with  the  days  of  any  contigu- 
ous market. 

At  these  markets  everything  conceivable  that  people 
can  use  is  sold;  from  the  filthy  cotton  wadding  of  the 
worn-out  garments  of  the  previous  winter  season  to  old 
shoe  soles  in  the  last  stage  of  disrepair ;  from  all  sorts  of 
fish  that  smell  to  heaven  to  nameless  things  out  of  the 
sea,  to  look  at  which  makes  one  feel  weak  in  the  pit  of 
his  stomach.  Many  varieties  of  vegetables  and  fruit  are 
sold,  often  cut  into  small  pieces  for  the  convenience  of 
the  buyers  and  exposed  to  the  dust  and  filth  and  flies  of 
the  street. 

Here,  at  this  gathering-place  of  the  community  of  that 
district,  the  itinerating  missionary,  with  a  company  of 
volunteers — Christians,  elders,  deacons — or  paid  evangel- 
ists, or  all  together,  prepares  to  preach  the  Gospel. 
Often  the  market  is  held  outside  the  wall  of  the  market 
town  in  the  bed  of  a  dry  moat  or  stream,  as  well  as  upon 
the  long,  rambling,  irregular  main  street.  The  practised 
eye  of  the  preachers  picks  out  pulpits  as  serviceable  as 
unique  from  which  to  preach — often  the  steps  of  a 
temple;  often  a  theatre  platform,  which  frequently  is 
opposite  the  main  temple  gate  j  often  the  earth  mounds 
scattered  in  the  street.  Sometimes,  down  among  the 
crowd,  the  preachers  may,  several  times  during  the  day, 
work  through  the  mass  of  people  in  the  street,  preaching, 
distributing  tracts,  and  disposing  of  Scripture  portions 
sold  absurdly  cheap — one  copper  cash  a  volume. 

It  is  a  unique  and  interesting  scene  that  is  spread  out 
before  the  preacher,  standing  a  little  above  it— the 
throngs  of  countrymen  who  surge  up  and  down  along  the 
streets  in  front  of  the  men  squatting  with  their  wares. 
All  are  endlessly  seeking  bargains.  And  ever  above  the 
hum  and  the  strident  noise  of  the  crowd  of  buyers  and 
sellers,  the  one  word  is  constantly  heard, — ^'cash,  cash, 


C/3 


THE  MARKET  AND  THE  TENT         165 

cash  ! "  One  wonders  if  there  could  be  any  more  ma- 
terialistic race  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Out  of  such  a 
restless,  pushing  jam  of  people  the  preacher  is  to  get  an 
audience — if  he  can.  There  is  usually,  however,  no 
trouble  in  getting  some  of  the  crowd  to  stop  and  listen. 
Above  the  din  and  uproar,  the  Gospel  messenger  raises 
his  voice.  Often  they  gaze  intently  and  the  foreigner 
thinks  that  he  has  their  attention  centred  on  the  truth  he 
is  preachiug,  only  to  find  out  later,  through  questions 
asked  and  the  conversation  that  takes  place  in  front  of 
him,  that  the  interest  centred  on  a  button  or  a  shoe-lace 
or  his  glasses  or  his  watch  or  his  all-round  general 
queerness. 

There  are  happenings  in  a  day  comical  enough.  The 
auditors  discuss  and  argue  among  themselves  why  the 
foreign  devil's  glasses  are  dark-coloured.  Or  what  sin- 
ister motive  can  he  have  in  coming  to  our  land,  thereby 
subjecting  himself  to  inconveniences  and  hardship  ?  Is  he 
in  our  land  in  order  to  take  it,  or  is  he  preparing  to  at- 
tempt to  enslave  us  ?  And  with  the  pride  of  provincial- 
ism in  their  great  and  difficult  language  they  exclaim  : 
**  He  must  be  very  venerable  in  age  !  He  must  have  re- 
quired many  years  in  which  to  have  accomplished  the 
feat  of  talking  our  talk.  We  never  could  learn  his 
tongue  !  '^ 

The  foreigner  is  generally  able  to  attract  a  crowd,  and 
if  their  attention  is  lagging,  or  if  they  have  moved  on 
during  the  expounding  and  haranguing  of  the  Chinese 
evangelists,  they  usually  surge  back  again  when  the  for- 
eigner begins  to  speak.  However,  one  evangelist,  faith- 
ful elder  for  many  years,  used  a  scheme  when  interest 
was  lagging  which  would  startle  and  attract  well-nigh 
any  market  crowd.  He  was  the  proud  possessor  of  a  set 
of  teeth  made  by  a  foreign -trained  Chinese  dentist ;  and 
when  he  saw  a  sagging  in  interest,  he  was  accustomed  to 


166  CHINA  FKOM  WITHIN 

call  out  to  the  people  to  watch  him,  as  something  won- 
derful was  about  to  happen.  Then  with  a  dramatic 
movement  of  the  hands,  he  would  take  out  his  false  teeth 
and  wave  them  in  the  air,  again  shouting  to  everybody 
to  look.  Sometimes  the  people  on  the  instant  would  ex- 
claim and  draw  away  in  astonishment  and  temporary 
horror,  immediately  after,  mob-like,  to  surge  back  around 
him  to  see  and  hear  such  a  wonder-worker.  Aside  from 
any  adventitious  attraction  to  aid  him,  the  Chinese 
evangelist  preaching  in  the  market  usually  is,  as  a  fellow 
missionary  says,  a  wonder,  and  can  usually  save  the  situ- 
ation. He  is  a  fluent  talker,  can  speak  apparently  under 
any  circumstances,  and  is  deterred  or  perturbed  ap- 
parently by  no  amount  of  shouting  or  noise.  At  times 
his  talk  may  seem  rambling  and  wide  of  the  mark,  but 
he  surprises  and  delights  with  his  apposite  illustrations 
and  his  realistic  presentations  of  the  Scripture  stories 
and  truths,  and  usually  scores  a  strong  point. 

The  remarkable  thing  is  that  the  Holy  Spirit  can  use 
witness  borne  of  Christ  under  such  adverse  circumstances 
of  noise,  confusion,  distraction  and  selfish  barter,  causing 
men  to  be  smitten  with  the  conviction  of  sin.  Eepeat- 
edly  in  this  market  preaching  we  have  been  interrupted 
by  men  who  have  asked  with  troubled  earnestness  one  of 
the  most  terrible  questions  that  any  Christian  can  ever 
have  put  to  him  :  **  Honoured  Shepherd,  if  all  this  hope 
that  you  speak  about  in  the  Jesus  Doctrine  is  true,  why 
did  you  not  come  a  long  while  ago  and  tell  us  about  it  ?  " 
Many  a  Christian  in  the  Home  Church  will  have  to  face 
that  question  in  the  judgment. 

Men  turn  away  apparently  untouched.  And  yet  one 
of  the  best  of  men,  for  many  years  a  preacher  and  an 
elder,  confesses  that  as  a  raw  and  callow  youth,  at  the 
market,  looking  around  to  see  something  new  and  strange, 
he  heard  a  foreign  missionary  preaching  ;  had  gone  away 


THE  MARKET  AND  THE  TENT         167 

apparently  unimpressed ;  but  twenty  years  later  was 
smitten  with  the  conviction  of  sin  and  of  righteousness 
and  of  judgment  to  come  by  the  words  all  these  years 
buried  in  his  heart.  Many  other  cases,  the  same  in 
principle,  could  be  cited.  We  know  that  the  Spirit  of 
God  is  not  bound  ;  too  many  times,  through  the  miracles 
of  market  street-preaching,  have  we  been  forced  to 
realize  the  limitlessness  of  His  power.  In  view  of  these 
experiences  it  is  ours  in  faith  to  cast  the  bread  upon  the 
waters,  knowing  that  **  after  many  days"  it  shall,  as  He 
says,  return  increased. 

How  hearts  are  prepared  for  these  messages  no  one  but 
God  Himself  can  ever  know.  For  example,  a  certain 
man  heard  a  missionary  preaching  in  the  market.  Though 
he  himself  did  not  at  once  repent,  when  he  returned  home 
he  told  his  wife  about  it,  but  vaguely,  confusedly.  How 
precious  the  market  message  was  to  her  weary  soul  and 
what  it  ultimately  accomplished  in  and  through  her  may 
be  seen  in  the  following  narrative.  From  early  woman- 
hood she  was  keenly  conscious  of  her  sinfulness  and  that 
she  *'  ought  to  do  something  to  get  right. '^  So,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  universal  instinct  planted  in  the  hu- 
man heart  (but  which  displays  itself,  perhaps,  more 
dramatically  in  the  gorgeous  ritual  of  Asia — its  idol  wor- 
ship and  temple  services — than  in  the  West),  she  sought, 
as  zealously  as  vainly,  to  placate  God,  after  whom  she 
blindly  groped,  whom  she  instinctively  knew  she  had 
outraged,  and  with  whom  she  felt  she  ought  to  be  at 
peace.  She  knew  no  way  to  peace  except  through  merit- 
making.  And  to  prove  to  deity  the  sincerity  of  her  long- 
ing, she  determined  to  make  unusual  merit,  as  extraordi- 
nary and  unconventional  as  it  was  fetching.  It  could  not 
but  make  a  **hit"  with  the  priests;  and  perforce  they 
would  help  her  to  peace.  Note  how  God^s  providence 
was  over  her  to  use  her  gifts  and  turn  her  life  into  His 


168  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

service.  Mrs.  Li  is  a  natural  leader.  So,  during  unen^ 
lightened  years,  she  had  gathered  up  from  the  villages 
round  about  a  band  of  sixty  heathen  women  to  go  in  a 
body  with  her  and  lay  before  a  temple  altar  their  com- 
mon gift — pooled,  specially  prepared,  and  of  unusual 
value. 

To  persuade  that  number  of  women  to  leave  their 
homes  and  go  without  their  men-folk's  escort  is  in  rural 
China  an  extraordinary  feat.  Many  peasants  during 
their  lifetime  have  not  been  even  five  miles  away  from 
home  ;  many  women  have  scarcely  left  their  own  mud- 
walled  yard,  not  to  speak  of  their  own  village.  Heathen- 
ism's spirit  of  fear,  distrust,  suspicion  and  non-initiative 
broods  heavily  over  the  people.  If  the  husband  whom 
the  women  call  the  waitou  (one  who  has  communication 
with  the  outer  world)  has  not  at  all  opened  the  eyes  of 
his  understanding — being  unable  to  read,  and  the  victim 
of  all  manner  of  debasing  superstitions— what  must  such 
an  undertaking  be  for  a  peasant  woman,  the  litou  (one 
who  stays  in  the  house),  who  knows  little  beyond  the 
door-step  gossip,  whose  intellectual  horizon  is  often 
bounded  by  the  village— the  latest  news  about  Mrs.  Li's 
baby  dying  of  worms,  and  Mrs.  Wan's  abused  daughter- 
in-law  jumping  into  the  village  well,  and  Mrs.  Lin 
poisoning  her  husband,  and  Mrs.  Tang  selling  her  little 
girl  to  a  brothel,  and  the  like. 

For  a  Chinese  peasant  woman  to  go  sixty  miles  on  foot 
is  almost  like  your  crossing  a  continent.  She  leaves 
home  when  married,  and  at  increasingly  rare  intervals 
revisits  the  parental  abode,  her  crippled  feet  necessitating 
her  riding  on  an  animal  or  barrow,  and  being  escorted  by 
a  man  of  her  family.  Now  this  sort  of  an  expedition,  led 
by  Mrs.  Li  the  Zealous,  was  more  analogous  to  Living- 
stone's first  penetration  of  the  Dark  Continent.  How 
sixty  husbands  would  allow  it  is  a  mystery,  explainable 


THE  MARKET  AND  THE  TENT         169 

only  ou  the  basis  that  the  illogicalness  of  heathenism 
makes  possible  all  sorts  of  contradictory  credulities  and 
foolish  practices  and  hurtful  customs  side  by  side.  But 
so  it  was  that  time  after  time  these  women  set  out,  upon 
their  tiny  crippled  feet,  to  walk  the  weary  distance  to 
their  sacred  precinct,  especially  famed  in  that  region. 
Together  they  toiled  to  the  summit  of  that  holy  hill ;  to- 
gether on  their  knees  they  entered  the  temple,  each  burn- 
ing a  stick  of  incense.  Many  times  they  prostrated 
themselves  on  the  cold,  earthen  floor  in  worship  to  the 
hideous  demon-idols.  After  they  had  knocked  their 
foreheads  repeatedly  in  the  dirt  they  crawled  backward 
on  all  fours  out  of  the  temple,  keeping  their  eyes  glued 
upon  the  awful  presences  until  their  forms  were  lost 
through  the  open  portals.  Such  was  their  merit-making  ! 
Weakened  from  the  fasting  connected  with  the  vow,  foot- 
sore from  the  long  and  arduous  pilgrimage,  they  got  what 
solace  they  could  out  of  their  laboriously  made  merit. 

Then,  each  season,  succeeding  their  great  adventure, 
Mrs.  Li  and  her  companions  dispersed  to  their  homes — 
their  quest  vain,  their  souls  more  weary  than  their  bodies 
— unsatisfied,  thirsting  after  the  living  and  to  them  un- 
known and  unknowable  God. 

A  year  came  when  it  seemed  to  Mrs.  Li  as  if  she  should 
die  if  she  could  not  find  heart-peace.  She  early  began 
making  preparations  for  the  merit-making  journey,  the 
best  method  of  which  she  could  conceive  to  placate  deity, 
totally  ignorant  as  she  was  of  the  truth  :  **  Sacrifice  and 
oblation  (as  a  substitute  for  holy  obedience)  Thou  wouldst 
not."  As  the  time  of  the  temple  festival  approached,  she 
was  feverish  in  her  desire  to  be  off  and  lead  her  baud  of 
zealots.  But  on  the  day  set  for  departure  she  was  stricken 
with  fever,  and  passed  the  days  of  the  pilgrimage  in  de- 
lirious moaning.  Often  she  muttered :  "  Oh,  Spirit  of 
heaven  and  earth,  light,  light,  light !  " 


170  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

She  recovered,  and  when  strong  enough  to  bear  the 
news,  was  informed  that  her  band  of  women  and  many 
other  worshippers  crowded  into  the  temple  had  all  been 
burned  alive  in  the  temple.  Over  the  main  double  door 
was  a  half  second-story,  stored  with  straw  and  corn-stalks, 
used  for  winter  fuel  by  the  priests,  lazy,  ignorant  and 
vicious,  who  live  in  fatness  off  the  offerings  of  a  poverty- 
stricken  people.  On  such  an  important  festival  occasion 
one  of  the  priests,  on  account  of  the  press,  and  to  make 
the  service  more  impressive  to  an  unsophisticated  folk, 
had  stood  up  in  that  loft,  and  there,  facing  the  idols,  had 
intoned  the  prayers,  while  another  by  his  side  beat 
the  drum.  At  each  proper  period,  signified  by  the 
pounding,  the  people  prostrated  themselves  upon  the 
floor.  By  accident,  probably,  one  of  the  priests  knocked 
off  from  the  stand  before  him  an  incense  stick  (an  Amer- 
ican boy^s  Fourth  of  July  piece  of  punk).  Suddenly  it 
must  have  ignited  the  combustibles  all  about  him,  and  as 
suddenly  the  flames  leaped  up,  enveloped  the  two  priests 
and  ate  through  the  years- old  and  dry-as- tinder  board 
platform  supporting  them.  The  people  below,  stiff  with 
surprise  and  dumb  in  terror,  watched  the  two  wretches, 
eaten  of  fire,  tumble  down  at  their  feet  before  them. 
Then  a  wild  stampede  for  the  door  in  front  occurred. 
Unfortunately,  the  very  effort  to  rush  out,  as  the  people 
pushed  from  behind,  each  thinking  only  of  himself,  only 
pressed  the  doors,  which  opened  into  the  temple,  more 
tightly  shut  And  there  the  crazed  company  were,  im- 
prisoned in  that  sacred  charnel-house  ! 

Those  on  the  outsidC;  attempting  rescue,  were  unable 
to  make  any  headway  against  the  jam  from  within.  The 
flames  quickly  spread  to  all  the  inflammable  things  in- 
side the  temple— rafters,  cross-beams,  door-lintels,  furni- 
ture and  framework,  from  which  hung  gorgeous  banners 
and  silk  curtains  screening  the  features  of  mud  deities. 


THE  MARKET  AND  THE  TENT         171 

And  these,  bedecked  as  they  were  with  paint  and  gay 
tinsel,  were,  no  less  than  their  victim-worshippers,  licked 
up  by  the  fervent  heat.  The  fumes  issuing  from  the 
doomed  building  suffocated  even  those  tugging  at  the 
doors  from  without.  Terrible  were  the  descriptions  of 
the  diabolical  din  and  frenzied  cries  within.  Through 
the  smoke  and  amid  the  crackling  of  the  flames  onlookers 
got  a  confused  impression  of  a  writhing  mass  of  fierce  and 
maddened  creatures  trampling  without  pity  and  as  ruth- 
lessly trampled,  scrambling  frantically  over  one  another, 
fighting  like  demons  for  the  door,  their  clothes  all  afire 
— human  brutes  and  human  torches  in  one. 

The  heavy,  tiled  roof,  wrenching  and  groaning  and 
gutted  of  its  inner  supports,  fell  in,  and  many  little  leer- 
ing, protecting  devil- images  fastened  on  its  top— all  too 
significant — keeled  in  after.  A  cloud  of  dust  and  ashes 
arose.  From  within  came  the  smothered  cries  and  stifled 
shrieks  of  roasted  victims.  Then  a  ghastly  silence. 
And  the  holocaust  of  sin,  offered  up  to  the  Father  of  lies, 
was  complete. 

In  far-away  China  we  have  read  of  such  disasters  hap- 
pening even  in  Christian  America.  If  pandemonium 
could  grip  a  cultured  audience  in  an  American  theatre, 
imagine  what  a  fire  panic  must  mean  when  it  seized  upon 
a  company  of  illiterate,  uncouth,  untravelled  heathen 
peasants. 

With  the  news  of  the  death  of  her  women  friends,  Mrs. 
Li's  hope  in  the  power  of  her  gods  to  help  her  failed 
utterly.  Horrified  at  the  fate  of  those  pilgrim  com- 
panions, she  now  determined  with  all  the  energy  of  her 
being  to  find  a  real  Saviour  or  die  in  the  attempt.  Again 
she  questioned  her  husband  desperately  about  the  foreign 
God.  "What  did  you  say  His  name  is?"  "Yie  Su 
(Jesus) !  "  he  answered.  And  as  the  description  became 
more  detailed  and  she  slowly  and  laboriously  patched  to- 


172  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

gether  the  ideas,  she  finally  exclaimed:  *'Yie  Su  Kiu 
Chu  (Jesus  Saviour) !  He  is  the  one  I  am  looking  for  ! 
He  satisfies  me.  He  causes  me  to  rest  my  heart ! " 
.  The  outcome  of  her  search  was  that  she  became  one  of 
?T  our  Bible  women,  travelling  on  foot  and  preaching  tire- 
^  lessly  to  women  through  the  villages  of  three  churches. 
';  y  She  was  called  "The  Zealous^' — a  little  wrinkled  old 
^^  woman,  poor  and  without  immediate  family.  But  her 
life-quest  had  succeeded.  She  had  found  the  secret  of 
happiness.  Her  shining  black  eyes  snap  with  the  zest  of 
joyous  living.  The  winsome  smile  that  habitually  is  hers 
attests  it.  Her  zeal  for  the  faith  delivered  to  the  saints 
is  phenomenal.  Like  Paul  she  can  say  :  "  This  one  thing 
I  do" — press  forward  towards  the  mark  in  His  service. 
She  often  says :  '^If  all  my  life  long  I  have  wasted  my 
energy  in  serving  demons,  why  should  I  not  now  as  zeal- 
ously try  to  serve  the  true  God  ?  If  I  led  sixty  women  to 
the  temple  of  idols,  why  should  I  not  spend  myself  trying 
to  lead  as  many  to  Christ,  the  Saviour?"  Truly,  as 
Isaiah  said,  our  God  is  a  "  wonder  of  a  Saviour."  "  They 
to  whom  no  tidings  came  (directly)  shall  see,  and  they 
who  have  not  heard  shall  understand." 

The  simplicity  of  the  faith  of  a  Christian  household 
taking  God  at  His  Word  is  refreshing.  With  them  it 
seems  natural  to  thank  the  Father  for  a  visit  of  the 
pastor,  a  prayer  of  gratitude  being  usually  offered  on  his 
safe  arrival.  It  gives  a  minister  strength  for  his  mission 
and  message  as  all  the  folks  of  the  home  stand  bared, 
while  the  blessing  of  the  Almighty  is  invoked  on  the 
visit.  Likewise  on  his  departure  there  is  always  the 
prayer  together  for  God's  guidance  on  the  journey,  that 
he  may  go  panoplied  in  the  strength  of  the  Almighty 
God.  And  well  he  knows  he  needs  it  as  he  faces  heathen- 
dom— huge  and  crass  and  indifferent  to  him  who  in  his 
own  weakness  is  as  unable  to  make  a  dent  in  it  as  with 


THE  MARKET  AND  THE  TENT         173 

his  fist  to  batter  down  the  vast  sea-dykes  of  Holland. 
And  as  he  sees  continual  tokens  of  his  people's  confidence 
in  him  and  their  looking  to  him  as  an  example,  well  may 
the  missionary  pastor,  imitating  the  solicitude  and  ex- 
ample of  Paul,  stir  himself  up  to  give  **  no  occasion  of 
stumbling  in  anything,  that  our  ministration  be  not 
balmed,  but  in  everything  commending  ourselves  as 
ministers  of  God,  in  much  steadfastness,  in  watchings,  in 
pureness,  in  knowledge,  in  longsuffering,  in  kindness,  in 
the  Holy  Spirit,  in  love  unfeigned,  in  the  word  of  truth, 
in  the  power  of  God,  by  the  armour  of  righteousness  on 
the  right  hand  and  on  the  left/* 

One  is  always  impressed  with  the  politeness  of  the 
peasant  Christian  hosts — politeness  according  to  their 
standards,  of  course.  Few  receptions  could  be  kinder 
or  more  enthusiastic.  Afar  off  the  visitor  is  frequently 
espied  and  the  men  of  the  household  hasten  out  to  meet 
him,  it  being  the  prerogative  of  their  senior,  as  host,  to 
take  the  traveller's  ^'Chien  tatsi"  (the  Chinese  equiva- 
lent of  valise,  dress-suit  case,  band-box,  lunch-box,  trunk 
and  purse),  which  is  carried  on  the  shoulder  and  hangs 
down  in  front  and  behind.  A  few  minutes  before  the 
Shepherd  arrives,  the  word  has  been  hurried  on,  and  the 
women  of  the  family  have  indulged  in  a  perfect  hurricane 
of  house-cleaning — i.  e.,  dust-raising. 

Inside  the  gate  they,  flustered  and  warm,  smiling,  bow- 
ing and  apologetic,  receive  the  guest,  placing  a  stool  for 
him.  The  canons  of  etiquette  require  that  it  should  be 
farthest  from  the  fresh  air  of  the  open  door  (it  would  be 
a  sign  of  *'no  welcome"  were  he  seated  near  it).  Often 
the  room  is  so  thick  with  stirred  up  dust  as  to  suggest 
the  thought  of  its  being  cut  with  a  meat- cleaver. 

The  ceremonial  cup  of  tea  is  soon  brought,  just  as  in 
Palestine  the  Syrian  host  to-day  brings  the  basin  for  the 
travel-stained  feet  of  his  guest.     "  Ha  i  tien  sui ''  (drink 


174  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

a  little  water)  is  urged.  Unless  it  is  certain  that  he  is 
equal  to  the  emergency,  the  guest  would  better  be  po- 
litely wary,  for  the  invitation  often  means  to  perform 
the  feat  of  plucking  several,  usually  six,  slippery  dropped 
eggs — and  with  chop-sticks— from  a  bowl  of  hot  water, 
and  landing  them  all  safely  where  they  were  intended  to 
go.  If  they  are  not  eaten  the  host  may  feel  hurt,  certainly 
disappointed.  If  the  guest  bungles  the  job,  the  audience 
doesn't  think  much  of  his  dexterity  in  handling  the 
"Kwei  tsi'*  (nimble  fellows,  as  the  chop -sticks  are 
facetiously  called). 

There  is  no  fathoming  the  troubles,  the  undoctored 
sicknesses,  the  inarticulate  woes  of  these  humble  folk. 
Much  that  they  suffer  is  born,  either  of  the  squalor  of 
their  lives,  the  vice-grip  of  which  is  never  relaxed,  or  of 
the  persecution,  petty  and  serious,  that  meets  them  in 
myriad  forms  because  of  their  breach  with  the  idolatrous 
superstitions  of  their  clan  and  neighbours. 

I  entered  a  room  where  an  old  woman  lay.  She  was  a 
Christian,  her  folks  were  not.  While  they  had  not 
literally  turned  her  out,  they  made  it  manifest  that  they 
had  no  room  for  her.  In  each  of  the  end  rooms  of  the 
three-roomed  house  was  a  "kang"  (brick  bed).  The 
well  members  of  the  family  slept  on  one,  and  the  other, 
on  which  the  sick  woman  had  been  lying,  they  had  com- 
mandeered as  a  nursery  for  the  sweet-potato  plants.  The 
tender  slips  embedded  in  rich  black  soil  filled  the  kang. 
Its  warmth,  because  of  the  flues  underneath  connecting 
with  the  stove,  forced  their  growth  preparatory  to  plant- 
ing in  the  fields  a  few  weeks  later.  The  little  low  dark 
room  was  so  cluttered  that  it  was  a  squeeze  between  the 
kang  and  the  pile  of  boxes  and  stuff  on  the  opposite  side. 

There  she  lay  in  that  alleyway  on  the  damp  earthen 
floor,  bundled  up  in  her  quilts— filthy,  ragged,  odoriferous 
— despised  and  rejected  for  Christ's  sake.     As  I  entered 


THE  MARKET  AND  THE  TENT         175 

unobserved  she  was  softly  repeating  to  herself  verses  she 
had  been  taught :  ^*  I  love  Him  because  He  first  loved 
me.''  After  I  had  prayed  she  said  :  **  Though  my  body 
is  racked,  my  heart  is  filled  with  peace!  I  know  in 
whom  I  have  believed  and  am  persuaded  that  He  is  able 
to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  Him  against 
that  day.''  Her  gratitude  filled  me  with  a  realization  of 
the  joy  of  being  an  uuder-shepherd  of  the  Great  Shepherd. 
I  felt  that  I  received  much  more  than  I  gave  that  day. 
And  as  I  left  her  I  found  myself,  for  very  gratitude  to 
God,  humming  this  hymn-prayer : 

"  Let  me  be  tender  when  I  touch 
The  meanest  name  to  Jesus  dear ; 
Lest  my  rude  hands  inflict  a  wound 
Where  Jesus'  mercy  dropped  a  tear." 

In  another  home  which  I  visited,  another  Christian 
woman  lay  stricken  upon  the  kang,  her  whole  limb 
afflicted  with  a  foul  ulcer.  The  family  were  Christians 
but  utterly  ignorant  of  what  to  do.  Like  all  their  neigh- 
bours they  were  innocent  of  cleanliness  and  sanitation  in 
handling  the  sick,  and  utterly  without  facilities  to  care 
for  the  case  even  had  they  understood  it.  Such  knowl- 
edge comes  to  a  nation  as  a  by-product  of  the  broad, 
humane  enlightenment  that  results  from  honouring  Christ. 
At  least  the  spirit  of  heathenism  never  produced  it. 

The  weather  was  hot,  the  atmosphere  of  the  room  fetid 
and  rancid,— stifling  to  me.  The  woman  was  rotting  to 
death  of  gangrene,  no  help  or  hope.  Heathenism  had 
provided  no  hospital  for  her.  In  order  to  catch  any 
breeze  that  might  come  her  way  she  had  thrust  her 
fingers  through  the  paper  that  covered  the  lower  rows 
of  the  tiny  wooden  square  openings  in  which  the  window- 
frame  was  divided.  It  had  not  occurred  to  the  family  to 
strip  off  the  paper  entirely ;  or  perhaps  it  had  and  they 
had  desisted  for  an  obvious  reason.     The  pig-pen  was 


176  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

just  outside,  separated  from  the  patient  only  by  a  mud 
wall.  Under  the  grilling  of  the  sun  the  fumes  rolled  in. 
The  flies  came  through  the  punctured  holes  in  the  paper 
panes,  and  in  greedy  swarms  were  tormenting  and  de- 
vouring her.  In  weariness  and  pain  she  tossed  on  her 
brick  bed  and  rolled  her  head  from  side  to  side,  seeking 
a  soft  spot  in  her  pillow,  stuffed  hard  and  full  with  barley. 
And  yet,  in  this  hole  of  a  wretched  hovel,  she  knew 
Christ.  For  months  He  had  sustained  her.  Though  she 
could  not  express  it  thus,  she  was  aware,  just  as  well  as 
Samuel  Rutherford,  that  ^^He  delighteth  to  take  up  the 
fallen  bairns  and  to  mend  broken  brows.  Binding  up  of 
wounds  is  His  office.^'  She  had  been  taught  the  twenty- 
third  Psalm,  and  this  she  repeated  joyfully  with  me,  say- 
ing, almost  in  the  language  of  Paul,  **  Though  the  out- 
ward man  perish,  the  inward  man  is  renewed  day  by 
day."  And  this  despite  revolting  surroundings:  the 
bare  grimy  walls  and  the  flies  inside,  and  just  outside  the 
hogs,  grunting,  squealing  and  fighting  week  after  week, 
day  and  night.  This  broken  ignorant  woman  taught  me 
anew  the  meaning  of  Browning's  words  i 

**  There  is  no  good  of  life  but  love — but  love  I 
What  else  looks  good  is  some  shade  flung  from  love  j 
Love  guilds  it,  gives  it  worth. 

Be  warned  by  me,  never  you  cheat  yourself  one  instant. 
Love,  give  love,  and  leave  the  rest." 

On  another  day  I  made  a  detour  in  my  itinerary  and 
sought  out  a  family,  the  only  one  in  that  village  who  were 
Christians.  For  weeks  during  the  daytime  they  had  been 
kept  from  the  village  well  because  of  their  confession  of 
the  Lord,  it  being  necessary  for  the  father  and  son  to  go 
in  the  dark  to  another  village  to  draw  water.  The  father 
had  become  a  Christian  through  hearing  the  Gospel 
preached  "in  the  market."  He  had  sent  his  son  and 
daughter  to  a  near-by  village  Mission  school  where  thev 


THE  MARKET  AND  THE  TENT         177 

had  accepted  Christ.  For  some  months  these  three  had 
been  iustructing  the  mother,  who  was  eager  to  take  the 
step.  Tliough  they  were  desperately  poor,  the  father 
was  now  away  on  a  volunteer  preaching  tour,  selling 
Scripture  portions. 

Before  I  began  to  talk  to  the  mother  I,  for  two  reasons, 
sat  down  in  the  tiny  dishevelled  yard.  First,  that  the 
heathen,  suspicious  and  jamming  into  the  yard,  might 
see  and  hear  all  that  occurred  (their  heads  protruded 
everywhere  above  the  wall) ;  and,  secondly,  because  I 
could  not  stand  it  inside  the  nasty  little  hut  (from  it  she 
brought  me  food  black  with  the  flies  settled  on  it).  Two 
little  children  that  feared  the  strange  man  pulled  and 
tugged  at  the  mother — one  of  them  naked  but  for  a  shirt, 
and  dirty  and  covered  from  head  to  heel  with  undressed 
sores,  stung  nearly  to  madness  by  the  flies.  As  best  she 
could,  the  patient,  worn,  ignorant  mother  comforted  her 
infant.  Slowly  and  plainly  I  unfolded  to  her  the  st^ry 
of  Jesus.  Her  hungry  heart  eagerly  drank  it  in.  I  tried 
to  emphasize  what  her  husband  and  older  children  had 
not  made  clear.  Fine-spirited  she  was,  even  in  her 
squalor.  She  passed  creditably  through  the  examina- 
tion the  elder  and  I  put  to  her.  She  longed  to  partake 
of  the  Communion.  Her  future  opportunity  was  exceed- 
ingly uncertain.  She  had  not  gone  far  from  her  yard  for 
years.  And  we  decided  to  administer  the  Sacred  Supper. 
Nobody  could  picture  the  pathos  of  her  starved  life,  the 
type  of  ten  millions  of  women  like  her. 

Beside  the  door,  laden  with  fragrance  and  beauty,  stood 
an  exquisite  rose-tree  full  of  rich  red  flowers — aristocrat  of 
the  aesthetic  world  and  strange  sentinel  for  such  a  place, 
for  immediately  behind  it  was  the  pig-pen  and  just  oppo- 
site it,  across  the  path,  was  the  donkey  stable.  A  board 
over  a  stone  feed-trough  lying  on  the  ground  in  the  yard, 
was  our  substitute  for  a  table.    I  sat  behind  it  on  a  low. 


178  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

rickety  three-legged  stool,  the  best  the  house  afforded. 
In  front  of  me  were  the  elder  and  the  big  boy  and  girl, 
all  seated  on  a  borrowed  bench.  The  patient,  soft-eyed, 
humble  mother  sat  on  the  raised  door-sill,  holding  the 
diseased  child,  who  slept  with  its  mouth  open,  and  the 
sun  shining  right  into  its  eyes.  She  was  also  comforting 
the  other  little  one,  restless  and  fretting.  The  son  had 
borrowed  a  fresh  **Hwoa  Shoa"  (a  biscuit  baked  over 
coals)  and  a  cup  of  Chinese  beer  made  from  sweet  pota- 
toes. I  placed  my  handkerchief  over  the  elements.  It 
was  a  grotesque  setting  for  such  a  service — the  cramped 
yard  littered  with  its  filth,  and  its  mud  wall  lined  with 
staring,  unsympathetic  faces  ;  the  excited  chatter  and 
irreverent  remarks  of  those  who  had  crowded  in  through 
the  gate  ;  the  hens  digging  and  rolling  in  the  dirt,  seek- 
ing refuge  in  their  holes  from  lice,  and  then  shaking 
the  dust  in  dry  waves  upon  us ;  the  skinny  cat  crawl- 
ing through  the  sill  under  the  mother ;  the  yard  cur 
growling  and  showing  teeth  at  the  invaders  around  the 
gate  J  the  grunting  pigs,  and  the  perfect  rose-tree — a 
more  perfect  specimen  than  which  it  would  be  hard  to 
find  outside  the  villa  gardens  of  Florence  or  the  lawns 
of  a  French  chateau. 

The  verse  that  comforted  the  mother  more  than  any 
other  was  Matthew  11  :  28,  ^'Come  unto  me  all  ye  that 
labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest. 
Take  my  yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of  me ;  for  I  am  meek 
and  lowly  of  heart,  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls. 
For  my  yoke  is  easy  and  my  burden  is  light. '^  She 
knew  all  about  the  yoke  j  not  the  yoke  that  we  Western- 
ers think  of— the  neck  yoke  of  a  pair  of  steers  of  equal 
size.  Multitudes  of  Chinese  are  too  poor  to  own  a  don- 
key, not  to  mention  an  ox,  and  when  they  are  fortunate 
enough  to  own  both,  they  are  often  hitched  tandem  j  but 
whether  they  are  hitched  side  by  side  or  tandem,  no  neck 


THE  MARKET  AND  THE  TENT         179 

yoke  could  be  used.  They  are  fastened  together  to  the 
plow  or  drag  or  cart  by  a  marvellous  ^*  contrapshun^^  of 
ropes.  The  yoke  that  she  thought  of,  and  possibly  our 
Lord  too,  is  the  omnipresent  *'  bien  tan,'^  a  strong  flexible 
pole  carried  on  the  shoulder,  to  which,  in  front  and  be- 
hind, are  fastened  whatever  is  to  be  carried,  from  babies 
to  baskets  of  eggs.  This  is  the  yoke  that  halves  the 
weight  of  all  burdens,  making  it  light!  "Yes!"  con- 
tentedly nodded  the  mother  after  the  service — the  yard 
full,  but  she  oblivious  of  the  rabble.  *■'■  Yes,  Jesus  halves 
all  burdens.  He  makes  them  light  to  be  borne  I  ^'  And  a 
mist  of  joy  was  in  her  eyes.  She  could  not  explain  it 
and  didn^t  have  to. 

I  have  many  times  celebrated  the  Lord's  Supper  in 
such  humble,  unknown  nooks  of  the  Peasautdom  of  China, 
and  in  these  celebrations  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  has  drawn 
very  close  to  me  and  has  helped  me  to  forget  the  crudities, 
the  vulgarities,  even  the  obscenities,  of  the  setting,  and 
to  see  the  Christ,  King  of  Love,  eternal  Host,  presiding 
at  His  Banquet  Board  ;  and  to  hear  His  blessed  words : 
"  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  the  least  of  these  who  are 
my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me.^'  Part  of  His 
blessed  reward  has  been  that,  in  circumstances  of  minis- 
tration to  His  little  ones.  He  has  given  me  the  spirit  to 
pray: 

**  Lord  crucified, 

Give  me  a  heart  like  Thine ; 

Teach  me  to  love 

The  dying  souls  of  men. 

O,  keep  my  heart 

In  closest  touch  with  Thee ! 

And  give  me  love, 

Pure  Calvary- love, 

To  bring  the  lost  to  Thee." 

Oh,  that  reward,  even  here  and  now,  is  satisfying  be- 
yond words. 


180  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

Once  again  I  entered  a  peasant  hut.  I  had  been  called 
in  haste  from  another  village.  It  was  a  winter  day, 
cloudy  and  cold.  A  strong  head  wind  was  on.  After 
buffeting  it  for  a  couple  of  hours,  we  reached  our  desti- 
nation ;  but  long  before  we  reached  it  the  wind  had  found 
our  marrow. 

The  street,  swept  by  gusts  of  dust,  was  deserted.  Pass- 
ing down  it,  the  elder  and  I  entered  a  hovel  just  beyond 
the  sheltering  wall  of  the  village— only  two  tiny  rooms, 
the  inner  quite  dark  to  us,  entering.  The  paper  cover- 
ing the  wooden  slats  of  the  window  frames  had  been 
whipped  into  shreds  by  the  wind.  The  windows  had 
been  piled  full  with  loose,  sun-dried  brick  to  help  if  pos- 
sible keep  out  the  cold. 

Our  eyes,  soon  accustomed  to  the  gloom,  made  out  that 
the  only  furniture  in  the  room  was  the  kang  (the  brick 
platform  that  serves  as  bed  and  is  built  into  the  wall). 
It  was  not  even  covered  by  the  customary  straw  mat. 
Upon  it  had  crawled  an  old  man  who  lay  huddled  there 
— a  Christian  dying.  His  only  garments  were  a  blue 
cotton  shirt  and  trousers,  such  as  is  universally  worn  by 
the  common  people  of  the  North  during  summer.  The 
ordinary  peasant  frequently  has  to  pawn  to  heathen 
usurers,  at  exorbitant  rates,  his  hoe  and  mattock  and 
plow  to  buy  padded  garments  for  the  winter  5  but  he 
usually  manages  to  get  them  somehow.  The  clothes  of 
this  poor  man  were  not  only  thin  but  ragged.  Through 
the  holes  his  skin  showed  *'  goose  pimply.  ^^  Manifestly 
he  was  not  long  for  this  life.  The  infirmities  of  age  and 
the  steady,  relentless  abuse  to  which  he  had  been  sub- 
jected, plus  this  exposure  to  cold  and  lack  of  nourish- 
ment, had  about  done  their  work. 

To  make  a  long  and  pitiful  story  short,  heathen-spirited 
children  of  ruthless  will  and  stubborn  purpose  had,  quite 
contrary  to  the  tenets  of  Confucius  as  to  filial  conduct, 


THE  MARKET  AND  THE  TENT         181 

turned  liim  out.  They  had  reasoned  :  *^  If  I  cannot  bend 
this  old  man's  purpose  to  be  a  Jesus-Doctrine  man,  I  will 
break  him  ! "  And,  under  Chinese  setting,  they  had 
treated  their  father  with  the  same  base  ingratitude  that 
Goneril  and  Eegan  had  treated  Lear.  He  had  been 
forced  out  at  night  and  in  the  winter  storm,  ill-clad  and 
without  food — the  climax  of  the  "  freezing  out "  process 
that  the  family  had  for  some  time  been  perpetrating 
upon  him.  The  old  man  had  through  the  night  wan- 
dered heli)lessly  across  the  frozen  fields  and  stumbled 
into  this  place,  outside  the  village,  just  as  he  was  ex- 
hausted. 

That  room  was  a  bleak  and  dreary  place — fireless,  of 
course,  and  lightless.  The  cold  damp  of  the  floor  soon 
numbed  my  feet.  I  touched  the  man  gently  on  the 
shoulder;  he  groaned  and  turned.  "Brother,  are  you 
suffering  much?''  "Compared  with  Jesus'  sufferings 
for  me,  it  is  light !"  He  knew  he  was  dying.  I  asked 
what  I  had  asked  so  many  times  of  other  men  in  China  : 
"Do  you  fear  to  die?"  He  replied  at  once  :  "No,  I 
am  not  afraid  to  die  !  Jesus  will  sung  (escort)  me  to  the 
Throne  of  the  Father,  where  I  will  fall  down  and  wor- 
ship Him  !  " 

I  asked  what  I  could  do  for  him.  < '  Sing  !  "  "  What  ? ' ' 
"Jesus  loves  me.  This  I  know,"  the  favourite  hymn  of 
all  our  Chinese  Christians,  which  old  Christians,  even  if 
they  learn  to  sing  nothing  else,  usually  can  sing.  Cover- 
ing him  with  my  sheepskin-lined  overcoat  we  began  to 
sing.  To  a  finicky  aesthetic  taste  ours  was  not  a  very 
brilliant  rendition — our  voices  were  strident  from  throats 
full  of  sand  and  dust,  and  every  breath  was  marked  by 
trails  of  steam  on  the  frosty  air.  When  we  finished  the 
last  line,  the  old  man  was  ready  with  another  request ; 
"Can  I  partake  of  the  Holy  Communion?"  At  first 
blush  it  seemed  incongruous— the  time,  the  place,  the 


182  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

circumstances — for  the  observance  of  the  Holy  Supper. 
But  we  decided  to  do  it,  using  my  pocket  set. 

He  partook  ;  and  as  he  did  so  I  read — again  at  his  re- 
quest— some  "  peace  passages.'^  **  My  peace  I  give  unto 
you  " — I  am  sure  he  had  it — the  peace  of  an  unshaken 
trust  in  his  risen  Lord,  the  peace  of  a  confidence  in  His 
sustaining  power  which  filled  his  soul  with  quietness 
while  the  storm  raged  outside.  And  as  he  partook,  God 
solemnized  the  service  with  the  flight  of  his  spirit.  The 
numbed  and  worn-out  body  lay  before  us;  he  himself  had 
gone  to  glory. 

In  that  instant  we  understood,  as  never  before,  the 
glory  of  being  God's  ministers  to  His  humble  ones.  The 
meaning  of  Jehovah's  commission  *'to  preach  good  tid- 
ings unto  the  poor,  to  bind  up  the  broken-hearted,  to 
proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives — to  comfort  all  that 
mourn,  to  give  beauty  for  ashes  and  a  garment  of  praise 
for  a  spirit  of  heaviness."  In  the  cold  and  darkness  of 
that  room  the  miracle  of  the  Holy  Grail  was  reenacted. 
And  it  was  as  if  our  cup  was  transformed  into  that  holy 
chalice  of  marvellous  mystic  beauty  ;  as  if  the  dying  out- 
cast revealed  to  us  the  face  of  the  glorified  Christ. 

Love  worked  mightily  for  us  in  the  gloom  of  that  win- 
ter afternoon.  It  made  Him  real  to  us,  as  we  two  elders 
took  Him  at  His  word,  and  did  His  service  in  His  name 
to  that  despised  and  helpless  one.  After  that  experience 
we  might  doubt  the  sun  in  the  sky,  but  we  could  not  doubt 
the  reality  of  the  love  of  God,  made  incarnate  in  Jesus 
Christ,  nor  the  eternal  necessities  which  prompted  it,  nor 
the  blessed  reward  of  thus  ministering  in  the  Holy  Spirit. 

"  Lo,  it  is  I,  be  not  afraid. 
In  many  climes  without  avail, 
Thou  hast  spent  thy  life  for  the  Holy  Grail : 
Behold  it  here — this  cup  which  thou 
Didst  fill  at  the  streamlet  for  me  just  now." 


THE  MARKET  AND  THE  TENT         183 

When  we  left  that  village  something  of  the  vast  pity  of 
Christ  for  the  poor,  the  weary,  the  helpless  had,  through 
His  grace,  been  strengthened  in  us.  That  day  we  appre- 
ciated anew  the  blessed  truth  that  service  for  His  sake 
to  those  who  can  return  nothing  is  a  key  that  unlocks 
the  riches  of  the  Infinitely  Wealthy  Father,  and  also  that 
unlocks  the  vision  of  it  and  a  glad  walk  with  Him. 

During  the  winter  this  province  sees  little  snow,  but 
the  cold  winds,  sweeping  down  from  the  vast  Manchurian 
plains  and  over  the  gulf  of  Pi  Chi  Li,  sometimes  pene- 
trate almost  to  the  marrow.  The  missionary  who  gets 
caught  on  his  itinerating  trips  in  one  of  these  biting  dust 
storms  cannot  forget  the  experience.  The  Christian  at 
home,  worshipping  in  his  overheated,  aesthetically-satis- 
fying church,  might  well  shiver  at  the  thought  of  going 
to  meeting  under  a  tent  during  the  winter  weather  on 
the  plain.  Imagine  it !  The  dampish  cold  ground,  cal- 
culated to  transform  feet  into  icicles,  one  end  of  the  tent 
more  or  less  open,  the  wind  at  times  piercing  through 
layers  of  clothing  and  filling  one^s  eyes  with  sand  and 
grit.  But  this  is  what  our  Chinese  do.  One  marvels  at 
their  indifference  to  discomfort  in  general  and  to  the  cold 
in  particular.  As  far  as  toughness  of  physical  fibre  is 
concerned.  Napoleon  should  have  had  some  of  them  for 
his  grand  campaign  in  Eussia.  They  would  do  in  dashes 
for  the  Pole. 

In  these  winter  meetings  held  in  tent  or  church  or  pri- 
vate rooms,  fireless  and  floorless,  and  through  the  broken 
paper  panes  of  whose  windows  a  keen  wind  is  often  pene- 
trating, while  the  foreigner  is  rummaging  his  brains  to 
devise  means  to  get  warm  and  keep  so,  the  Chinese  ap- 
pear to  think  that  there  is  nothing  extraordinary  in  lis- 
tening to  the  Gospel — nothing,  except  the  Gospel  itself. 

In  the  homeland  one  recalls  people  feeling  quite  justi- 
fied in  leaving  the  church  if  the  janitor  on  a  crisp  morn- 


184  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

iug  has  failed  to  get  the  furnace  fire  to  the  desired  tem- 
perature ;  so  to  me,  a  youug  missionary,  it  was  an 
inspiration  and  a  revelation  to  see,  during  winter,  tents 
full  of  these  men  and  women,  the  expression  of  tlieir 
bronzed  (not  yellow)  and  furrowed  faces  revealing  the 
fact  that  they  were,  despite  inclement  weather,  intently 
listening  to  the  *' Jesus  teaching." 

But  why  meetings  held  under  such  strange  and  ap- 
parently abnormal  conditions?  To  the  worker  in  the 
"West  with  his  crowded  daily  program  it  seems  unthink- 
able that  here  in  North  China  are  literally  tens  of  mil- 
lions of  i3eople  who  through  the  months  of  December, 
January,  February  and  March  have  practically  nothing 
to  do.  They  are  farmers.  With  the  last  crops  har- 
vested in  November,  the  people  face  a  hiatus  of  four 
mortal  months.  Accustomed  to  long  hours  of  laborious 
daily  toil,  they  welcome  almost  any  relief  from  winter 
ennui.  Their  i)rincipal  occupation  now  seems  to  be  to 
attempt  to  keep  warm  by  piling  on  the  maximum  layers 
of  wadded  cotton  garments  and  by  burning  the  minimum 
amount  of  leaves,  grass  and  corn-stalk  fuel,  and  their 
principal  recreation  is  to  attend  the  village  theatricals. 
The  long  ambling  streets  of  the  villages  are  full  of  groups 
of  men  and  boys  standing  and  squatting  around  practis- 
ing the  fine  art  of  sunning  themselves.  Day  after  day 
nothing  to  do  except  to  gather  and  smoke  and  gossip  and 
gamble  and  quarrel.  The  devil  is  there  and  very  busy 
hatching  trouble.  A  large  percentage  of  the  lawsuits 
that  wreck  morally  and  financially  so  many  Chinese 
families  originate  in  these  idle  days.  Naturally  they 
welcome  well-nigh  any  diversion.  So  that  here  in  these 
multitudinous  villages,  this  *^  empty  time,"  as  the  Chinese 
call  it,  is  the  evangelist^s  opportunity,  despite  the  un- 
comfortable weather  conditions  entailed  for  the  foreign 
itinerator. 


THE  MARKET  AND  THE  TENT         185 

Therefore,  for  some  years  past,  throughout  our  country 
field  a  big  teut  in  sections  has  been  used  for  these  evan- 
gelistic services.  Accommodating  many  more  than  any 
Christian  home  could  hold,  and  being  something  new 
and  strange,  at  least  in  being  used  for  ^^  Jesus-Doctrine'^ 
propagation,  the  tent  is  certain  to  insure  **  a  full  house  " 
of  heathen  who  will  not  enter  a  church  building.  Fre- 
quently they  have  been  ready  to  volunteer  benches  and 
tables,  to  serve  tea  and  hot  water  and  cakes  to  the  evan- 
gelistic party,  and  to  provide  lanterns  for  the  evening 
sessions. 

On  such  soul-soil  much  seed  has  been  sown  by  our  sta- 
tion evangelists  who  have  carefully  mapped  out  the 
region  about  their  preaching  centres,  and  then  have 
systematically  gone  through  those  villages.  One  thing 
that  has  heartened  them  on  to  more  strenuous  endeavour 
is  their  interest  in  and  prayers  for  the  Korean  Christians 
in  their  "  million  souls  "  campaign,  the  progress  of  which 
was  carefully  reported  to  them. 

No  revival  scene  could  be  more  unique  or  the  sight 
more  strange  than  such  a  company — many  of  them  con- 
sumed with  well-nigh  uncontrollable  curiosity  to  ^^look 
see,"  the  women  particularly,  if,  in  the  company  of  Chris- 
tians conducting  the  meetings,  there  chances  to  be  a 
Christian  woman.  Not  only  outside  the  tent  is  there  per- 
petual pushing,  but  inside  as  well.  The  speakers  chew 
grit ;  their  throats  are  raw  with  dust  and  the  strain  of 
speaking  to  a  crowd  often  innocent  of  order,  many  of 
them  chattering,  gesticulating,  or  indulging  in  stage 
whispers,  and  smoking. 

Experience  has  proved  there  is  but  one  way  to  fend  off 
an  acme  of  confusion  inside  the  tent,  such  as  will  prevent 
the  services,  and  that  is  to  build  a  bulwark  of  benches 
around  the  speakers'  table,  those  benches  to  be  occupied 
by    preachers   and   local  Christians,   who  constitute  a 


186  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

**  vacuum  of  attention  "  in  the  storm  of  enveloping  hub- 
bub. As  one  speaks  the  crowd  is  often  jamming  against 
his  chair  and  him  from  behind  ;  while  frequently  the  for- 
eigner, even  while  leading  in  prayer,  is  conscious  of  boys 
crawling  between  his  legs,  examining  his  watch,  feeling 
his  clothes  and  buttons,  and  handling  his  personal  be- 
longings. 

At  times  the  tent  becomes  so  choking  with  dust,  and 
the  crowd  inside  swells  to  such  numbers  and  presses  so 
eagerly  to  see  and  hear  (not  necessarily  the  Gospel,  but 
the  new  and  strange  things  told),  that  it  becomes  un- 
manageable. The  program  has  to  be  suddenly  changed. 
It  becomes  necessary  to  get  into  the  open.  The  Chris- 
tians betake  themselves  to  numerous  coigns  of  vantage 
outside ;  and  there  by  twos,  in  apostolic  fashion,  they 
become  the  preaching  centres  of  large  groups,  each  group 
often  limited  in  size  only  by  the  auditors'  power  to  hear 
the  speaker. 

It  would  seem  impossible  that  in  any  such  melee^  amid 
so  much  raw  confusion,  any  spiritual  fruitage  could  come 
out  of  such  a  ** jamboree"  ;  but  many  are  the  instances 
citable  to  show  how  there,  as  in  the  market,  many  a  man 
has  made  the  beginning  of  a  Christian  life. 

Here  is  such  an  one.  To  look  at  him  Brother  Chang 
would  not  be  called  a  handsome  man  or  an  especially 
promising  catechumen.  He  is  a  peasant,  minus  his  front 
teeth,  is  stoop-shouldered,  undersized,  partly  deaf  and 
halting  in  gait  and  speech.  He  is  uneducated,  and 
poorer  than  many  Americans  can  understand.  But  there 
is  now  a  smile  on  his  face  and  a  gleam  in  his  eye  that  at 
once  arrests  the  beholder  and  makes  him  look  twice. 

This  man  learned  the  Gospel  when  Miss  Yaughan  came 
to  his  village  to  hold  a  Kung  Ki.  She  was  accompanied 
by  several  of  the  women  from  our  "Women's  Bible  School, 
under  the  management  of  some  of  the  Chinese  leaders  of 


THE  MARKET  AND  THE  TENT         187 

onr  field,  and  largely  supported  by  our  Chinese  Christians. 
Chang  hung  on  the  edge  of  the  crowd  of  curious  women, 
and  learned  some  new  things  that  he  could  not  get  away 
from.  And  the  more  he  pondered  this  ^  *  Jesus  Doctrine, ' ' 
the  more  he  believed  it.  His  family  and  neighbours 
ridiculed  and  abused  him  for  his  faith.  But  a  great 
peace  had  come  to  him  j  and  **  the  heavenly  light '^  that 
now  filled  his  soul  he  wanted  them  to  experience.  For 
this  he  began  fervently  to  pray. 

To  his  mind  it  was  all-important  to  get  the  men  of  the 
village  in  touch  with  the  Christian  leaders  who  could 
more  fully  explain  the  teaching.  He  had  no  money,  no 
name,  no  influence — not  even  a  cart  or  barrow  on  which 
to  bring  foreign  guests,  even  if  they  could  spend  the  time 
to  come.     So  he  prayed,  in  faith,  steadily  for  a  year. 

He  prayed  that  on  a  given  date  Miss  Vaughan  with  a 
band  of  Bible  women  might  return  ;  also  that  the  *^  for- 
eign pastor  "  and  several  native  evangelists  might  come 
— and  they  all  came. 

He  prayed  for  a  crowd  of  heathen  to  leave  their  spring 
plowing  and  dragging  and  sowing  to  come  and  listen — 
and  they  came. 

No  house  or  yard  in  the  big  market  town  was  big 
enough  to  hold  the  crowd  he  wanted  to  see  gathered  ;  so 
he  had  prayed  that  a  large  *'  revival  tent"  might  come 
— and  it  appeared  at  the  proper  time  and  was  set  up. 

He  could  not  furnish  the  tent  with  seats  and  convention 
accessories ;  so  he  prayed  for  them.  And  the  people  of 
his  and  a  neighbouring  village  brought  all  that  were 
needed  and  put  them  at  his  disposal,  even  foreign  lamps 
for  the  evening  sessions. 

At  the  meetings  it  was  soon  realized  that  the  preachers, 
because  of  the  uncomfortable  jam,  would  have  to  divide 
forces.  So  Miss  Vaughan  took  the  tent,  which,  daily, 
from  early  till  late,  was  packed  with  women  and  babies. 


188  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

Some  Bible  women  taught  others  who  thronged  the  yard 
of  Chang's  mother.  We  men  talked  to  companies  on  the 
streets  and  to  the  constantly  shifting  throngs  who  came 
to  the  yards  which  were  in  friendliness  loaned  for  our 
various  headquarters. 

Some  results: — There  was  a  large  company  of  women 
inquirers — some  thirty.  More  than  three  thousand  men 
heard  the  Gospel,  the  local  people  themselves  providing 
the  money  for  the  expense  of  the  meetings. 

After  we  left,  Chang  was  smitten  with  the  need  of  a 
Christian  school  j  he  prayed  for  it  and  a  teacher — and 
got  both. 

Then  his  old  mother,  in  answer  to  his  prayer  of  faith, 
accepted  Christ. 

A  few  months  later  his  flaming  zeal  brought  to  his 
village  a  second  series  of  meetings,  in  which  many  of  us 
were  greatly  blessed.  It  was  remarked  by  many  as  a 
curious  fact  that  just  before  and  after  these  two  series  of 
meetiugs  the  weather  was  unusually  cold  and  windy  and 
dusty.  But  later  they  learned  that  it  was  Chang  who 
had  especially  prayed  the  Lord  for  the  perfect  weather 
that  obtained  during  the  meetings. 

I  have  since  baptized  a  number  of  those  for  whom 
Chang  prayed.  All  his  family  are  now  Christians  or 
inquirers,  and  many  outside  are  interested.  Hopeful 
days  are  ahead  for  that  village  and  that  region.  And  all 
because  one  humble  man  has  tried  to  live  up  to  the  light 
he  had,  that  first  dawned  on  him  in  a  Kung  Ki. 

The  good  that  comes  also  to  local  Christians  themselves 
witnessing  in  connection  with  the  Kung  Ki  for  the 
heathen  is  incalculable.  In  place  after  place  the  local 
Christians  have  received  a  great  blessing  because  they 
dared  to  stand  up  in  the  tent  before  their  heathen  neigh- 
bours and  witness,  and  because  they  were  willing  to  help 
run  in  the  crowds  to  the  tent  meetings ;  also  because  they 


THE  MARKET  AND  THE  TENT         189 

were  williug  to  participate  in  the  street  campaign,  and 
to  go  out  with  us  to  preach  in  the  surroundiDg  regions. 

Not  only  through  the  witness  of  these  humble  Chris- 
tians, begun  in  the  Kung  Ki,  have  thousands  of  people 
in  little  groups  among  the  villages  been  reached  with  the 
Gospel  message,  not  only  have  the  heads  of  influential 
families  been  stirred  up  to  become  inquirers  and  catechu- 
mens ;  but  repeatedly  the  Christians,  bringers  of  these 
blessings,  have  themselves  been  imbued  with  new  life — 
the  eternal  law  of  the  Spirit  was  re-proved  that  *Hhe 
more  one  gives  out  the  more  he  gets. " 

In  one  case  the  Christians  came  to  appreciate  so 
thoroughly  the  value  of  testifying  that  they  opened  a 
permanent  chapel,  attractive  and  roomy,  on  the  main 
street  of  a  near-by  market  town,  also  a  boys'  school  there, 
as  well  as  a  boys'  school  and  a  girls'  school  in  their  own 
village — all  at  their  own  expense. 

Again  the  sons  in  two  leading  families  were  moved  to 
give  themselves  with  their  parents'  blessing  to  prepara- 
tion for  the  ministry,  though  for  a  time  the  vision  of 
well-paid  Government  positions  had  filled  their  minds 
with  thoughts  of  worldly  advancement. 

The  transformations  also  that  have  come  to  mature 
Christians  through  rich  spiritual  experiences  in  the  Kung 
Ki  would  fill  a  book.  I  have  in  mind  an  honoured  elder 
who  before  the  new  vision  that  he  got  at  such  a  winter 
revival  had  with  his  wife  led  an  exemplary  Christian 
life.  With  the  blessing  that  came  to  him  in  such  a  meet- 
ing his  whole  life  was  changed.  In  answer  to  prayer  of 
faith  a  son  was  born  to  this  godly  couple, 'five  daughters 
having  already  been  bom  into  that  home.'  By  virtue  of 
his  being  a  member  of  the  church  session,  this  Christian 
had  been  a  governing  elder ;  now  as  a  keen  and  success- 
ful business  man  he  became  a  providing  elder,  rejoicing 
to  tithe  generously.     He  helped  to  send  worthy  pupils  to 


190  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

high  school  and  college  and  theological  seminary ;  he 
established  several  village  schools  and  became  a  veritable 
**  father  of  mercy  "  to  the  worthy  poor  of  his  region,  until 
he  was  assaulted  in  sleep  by  desperate  men  and  murdered 
for  his  money. 

These  Kung  Ki,  lasting  from  three  to  ten  days  each, 
have  also  been  held  primarily  for  Christians  and  Christian 
leaders.  And  each  of  these,  as  well  as  those  held  espe- 
cially for  the  heathen,  have  been  very  fruitful  of  deepened 
spirituality  manifested  in  practical  forward  steps  taken  for 
the  welfare  of  the  church. 

To  mention  the  results  of  only  one  such  Kung  Ki.  There 
were  present  pastors,  evangelists,  Bible  women,  school- 
teachers, elders  and  deacons  from  the  entire  field.  Sixty- 
five  leaders  joined  the  tithers'  club.  Ninety  formed  a 
prayer-circle  to  pray  daily  for  three  specific  objects  of 
great  importanccc  The  teachers  of  our  village  schools, 
having  caught  the  vision  of  service  for  Christ,  definitely 
pledged  themselves,  contrary  to  earlier  plans,  to  remain 
with  the  Mission,  renouncing  all  thought  of  larger  pay 
from  Government  schools.  Three  promising  young  men 
decided  for  the  ministry.  A  number  of  non-Christians 
were  brought  to  Christ.  Many  Christians  started  a  Bible 
league,  pledging  themselves  to  carry  a  pocket  edition  and 
read  daily  at  least  one  chapter  and  to  purchase  other 
copies  to  be  given  away.  Nearly  every  one  of  the  fifteen 
churches  of  the  field  through  their  representatives  ar- 
ranged to  subscribe  one  or  more  month's  pay  for  the 
salary  of  the  evangelists  labouring  in  their  districts,  one 
church  subscribing  a  year's  salary,  in  addition  to  its 
pastor's,  for  an  evangelist  and  Bible  woman.  All  groups 
of  Christians  having  village  schools  arranged  to  pay  one- 
third  of  the  cost  or  more.  Twelve  places  agreed  to  sup- 
port entirely  their  own  school ;  one  built  a  church.  A 
local  Home  Missionary  Society  was  formed  which  forth- 


THE  MARKET  AND  THE  TENT         1^1 

with  began  to  support  two  schools  and  three  evangelists. 
An  elder  gave  as  a  thank-offering  to  God  some  two  hun- 
dred tiao  ($80)  for  the  equipment  of  the  station  Girls' 
High  School  located  in  his  village,  a  school  in  which  he 
teaches  free  of  charge,  though  the  Government  offers  him 
$100  a  month  to  take  charge  of  one  of  its  schools.  A 
band  of  twenty  picked  men  took  a  week  of  time  to  preach 
systematically  up  and  down  the  streets  of  Tsingtau, 
among  its  forty-five  thousand  non- Christians.  And  the 
local  church  subscribed  $2,000  to  increase  its  seating 
capacity. 


VI 

The  Call  and  Its  Answer 

A  Study  of  Need  and  Its  Meeting 


YI 
THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWEE 

COUNTBY  folk  of  China  are  almost  always  in  dis- 
tress— of  flood  or  famine  or  revolution  or  robbers 
or  intestine  or  foreign  war.  In  some  sections 
the  flood  comes  almost  as  certainly  as  the  rolling  months. 
It  is  apt  to  come  in  late  summer  at  the  time  of  year  when 
some  of  the  various  crops  are  harvested.  If  it  be  severe, 
in  one  fell  day  all  that  has  been  garnered  will  be  swept 
away,  and  relief  must  be  given  at  once  or  starvation  en- 
sues. Then  is  the  golden  opportunity  for  the  witness  of 
the  missionary  and  the  Christian.  He  who  had  stored 
food  to  last  for  the  next  twelve  months  and  suddenly  finds 
his  mouth  empty  is  inclined  to  listen  at  least  respectfully 
to  a  kindly  word  about  the  "Jesus  Doctrine'^  from  the 
lips  of  the  bringer  of  food.  In  one  of  our  country  fields, 
several  years  ago,  one  of  the  worst  floods  of  years  oc- 
curred, bringing  in  its  train  the  removal  of  prejudice  all 
through  that  section  against  the  Christian  religion  and 
adding  many  to  the  Church,  not  because  many  wheat 
biscuits  came  from  Tsingtau,  but  because  men  were  im- 
pressed that  here  was  a  religion  of  genuine  helpfulness 
and  comfort  for  broken  people. 

Then  there  is  not  only  immediate  distress  resulting 
from  flood,  but  often  the  slow,  creeping  famine  during 
the  succeeding  months  of  effort  to  recover  from  the  flood's 
effect.  Or  the  year  has  been  bad  as  the  result  of  drought, 
or  crops  damaged  or  worthless  from  pests.  There  is  no 
powerful  central  government  at  hand,  generously  lending 

195 


196  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

long-armed  assistance,  its  trained  and  experienced  agri- 
cultural department  wisely  suggesting,  disinterestedly- 
helping,  and  scientifically  forefending  against  crop-ene- 
mies. The  people  must  be  tided  over  till  the  harvest  next 
year,  or  starve,  many  of  them,  from  crop  shortage. 

Pitiful  indeed  is  it  to  see  them  attempt  to  eke  out  a 
living  in  the  spring.  As  the  hart  panteth  for  water 
brooks,  so  they  long  for  the  wheat  harvest  of  June.  The 
sweet  potatoes  have  long  since  disappeared,  and  they 
have  betaken  themselves  to  a  soupy  food  of  which  the 
sweet- potato  leaves  form  a  large  ingredient ;  later  to 
pounding  and  eating  sweet-potato  stems,  the  common 
fodder  of  their  pigs.  And  then  when  the  green  things 
begin  to  api>ear  out  of  the  ground,  the  eager  search  along 
the  roadside,  practically  grassless,  for  anything  that  can 
be  used  as  greens,  these  in  extremis  conditions  continuing 
till  the  peasant  women  are  stripping  the  tender  shoots 
from  off  the  budding  trees,  and  gathering  on  the  hill- 
sides the  prickly  thistles.  And  when  the  wheat  begins 
to  ear,  long  before  it  is  ripe,  the  kernels  are  pulled  off 
and  used. 

Under  such  circumstances  when  the  representative  of 
the  Christian  Church  comes  to  the  people — as  he  needs 
to  do — often  year  after  year,  with  many  gifts  from  Amer- 
ica that  will  buy  bread  and  prolong  life,  it  becomes 
easier  to  believe  in  'Hhe  foreign  religion."  No  matter 
if,  as  is  sometimes  the  case,  people  are  too  starved  to 
eat,  and  the  stench  and  flies  have  brought  famine  fever, 
and  men  are  beyond  hope  of  physical  recovery,  yet  the 
impression  of  tremendous  contrast  is  created  in  the  minds 
of  all  these  people  between  their  callous  religions  and  the 
spirit  of  Christianity — for  heathenism  does  not,  jper  se, 
pity  the  needy  and  them  that  have  no  Helper. 

Imagine  the  sensation  made  in  three  country  churches, 
fall  of  starving  Christians  (who  until  one  fell  day  had 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  197 

been  relatively  well-to-do  peasants  supporting  their  own 
pastor),  when,  in  the  midst  of  such  distress,  it  became 
manifest  that  during  the  next  year  these  churches  could 
not  pay  their  pastor's  tremendous  salary  of  about  seven 
dollars  gold  a  month  ;  when  at  the  same  time  from  South 
China  (where  salaries  of  Christian  workers  are  much 
higher)  there  came  an  offer  to  this  pastor,  with  the  assur- 
ance of  a  Foreign  Mission  treasurer's  check  to  bind  it,  to 
engage  him  at  once  at  four  times  his  salary — imagine 
the  impression  made  throughout  that  region,  and  uj)on 
pinched- stomached  heathen  as  well  as  Christians,  by  this 
pastor-hearted  man  as  he  replied  :  "No,  I  choose  to  stay 
and  eat  bitterness  with  my  people '  M  Is  it  remarkable 
that  he  had  revivals  all  over  his  field  ? 

In  all  sorts  of  political  commotions,  whether  revolu- 
tions from  within  or  invasions  from  without,  it  is  the 
common  people,  the  non-combatants,  who  suffer  most. 
The  peasant  population  of  China  have  been  no  exception 
to  this  universal  experience.  It  was  they  who  suffered 
during  China's  Eevolution  of  1911-1912. 

This  altogether  unique  crisis  in  the  annals  of  civil  war 
brought  unusual  opportunities  of  sowing  the  Word  to 
the  itinerating  missionary  and  country  pastor.  In  Shan- 
tung Province  the  situation  was  peculiar.  It,  like  the 
metropolitan  province  of  Chili  to  the  north  of  it,  was 
absolutely  in  the  control  of  the  Manchus.  Their  soldiers 
held  the  cities,  patrolled  the  railroads,  and  swarmed  in 
the  country.  South  of  Shantung  the  Eepublicans  were 
in  strength  and  great  clashes  were  taking  place  at  Nan- 
kiug  and  Hankow.  But  here,  in  the  "keystone province 
of  China,"  all  was  one-sided.  Especially  were  these  un- 
toward conditions  true  in  East  Shantung,  for  reasons 
that  it  is  not  wise  to  mention,  but  which  are  perfectly 
undei-stood  by  the  initiated  on  the  scene  of  action. 

Early  in  the  fall,  soon  after  the  outbreak  at  Wuchang, 


198  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

I  began  to  get  heartrending  calls  both  from  Christian 
villagers  and  from  those  dwelling  in  several  of  the  walled 
cities  of  our  station  field.  It  was  to  be  expected  that 
with  the  passing  months  the  pressure  upon  them  would 
grow  heavier,  for  the  more  the  Manchus  lost  out  in 
South  China,  the  fiercer  and  more  vindictive  would 
become  the  conduct  of  the  soldiers  quartered  among 
the  dumb  and  helpless  villages  of  our  section.  It 
was  from  the  direction  of  our  ports  in  the  east  of  the 
province  that  invading  expeditions,  with  which  local 
patriots  hoped  and  planned  to  cooperate,  were  to  arrive. 
Therefore  the  more  necessity  for  overawing  with  show  of 
force  the  people  in  the  east,  farthest  removed  from  the 
provincial  capital  in  the  west  end,  held  solidly  in  the 
hands  of  the  foreign-trained  Northern  troops.  In  a  sec- 
tion so  overridden  with  Imperialists  there  was  no  more 
opportunity  for  local  Christians  and  patriots  to  put  Re- 
publican troops  in  the  field  than  for  the  Kaiser  to  raise  a 
regiment  of  Parisians  to  fight  under  his  eagle. 

Sure  enough,  as  the  South  gradually  took  on  a  more 
united  front — fifteen  Provinces  having  swung  into  line 
for  the  Republic — the  Imperial  princes  strengthened 
themselves  in  the  determination  to  hold  on  to  Ho  Nan 
(the  Province  of  the  Premier,  Yuan  Shi  Kai),  and  Shan- 
tung (the  historic  sacred  Province  of  Confucius  and  of 
incalculable  strategic  value  to  them),  and  Manchuria 
(the  ancient  seat  and  dominion  of  the  ruling  dynasty). 
And  their  men  set  themselves  in  our  section  not  only  to 
keep  securely  what  was  already  in  their  hands,  but  to 
harass  the  Christians,  whom  they  conceived,  and  rightly, 
to  be  the  root  and  trunk  of  permanent  opposition  to  the 
•old,  rotten,  reactionary  Mauchu  regime.  These  soldiers 
were  zealous  of  evil  works  ;  but  quite  logically  so : 
**  Whose  rice  we  eat,  his  will  we  do." 

The  tactics  of  these  ''regulars''  naturally  smote  terror 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  199 

into  the  countryside.  Whole  clans  in  a  **  visited  ^^  dis- 
trict would  move  out  in  a  night.  Villages  became  as  the 
grave.  The  mai-kets,  held  every  five  days  from  time  im- 
memorial, no  longer  witnessed  the  accustomed  crowds. 
People  hung  close  to  their  homes  and  talked  in  whispers, 
not  knowing  when  a  band  of  rough-riders,  mounted  on 
tough,  shaggy,  nimble-footed  Manchurian  ponies,  might 
appear  in  their  midst.  Fear,  like  a  huge  and  hideous 
genie,  brooded  over  the  hearts  of  men,  palsying  them. 
And  as  Christianity  was,  in  the  thoughts  of  heathen 
neighbours  no  less  than  in  the  thoughts  of  the  soldiery, 
associated  with  the  Revolution,  it  was  not  a  propitious 
time,  from  the  view-point  of  the  opportunist,  for  the 
"rice  Christian^'  to  confess  Christ,  much  less  to  become 
an  active  preacher  of  the  faith. 

It  was  a  clear  case  of  the  Christians  needing  their  pas- 
tors. If  ever  the  flock  was  to  be  shepherded  it  was  now. 
With  the  active  cooperation  of  my  wife — she  taking  on 
many  additional  burdens — I  arranged  to  remain  as  much 
as  possible  in  the  country,  visiting  my  parishes.  And 
from  early  September,  before  the  Revolution  formally 
broke  out,  till  after  the  wheat  harvest  in  June  of  the  next 
year,  I  was  almost  continually  among  them. 

The  only  class  of  people,  as  a  class,  and  native  to  the 
Province,  who  had  dared  cut  their  queues  as  the  sign  of 
emancipation  from  the  usurping  Manchu  misrule,  was  the 
Christians ;  and  the  soldiers  were  hot  after  them,  hunting 
them  out  and  chasing  them  around  in  a  fashion  that  en- 
abled one  vividly  to  conceive  of  how  the  Pharisaic  Saul 
and  later  the  minions  of  the  Roman  emperors  got  after 
the  humble  followers  of  our  Lord  in  the  Roman  Empire. 
Many  a  Christian  school  and  churchyard  became  a 
queue  cutting  recruiting  office  for  the  Republic,  and 
many  a  man  who  did  not  dare  cut  it  by  himself,  when  he 
got  into  such  a  place  and  under  the  moral  suasion  of  some 


200  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

of  the  brethren  armed  with  shears,  sat  down  on  a  stool  to 
cross  his  Kubicon  and  join  his  Boston  Tea  Party. 

For  their  daring  in  this  queue  cutting,  as  a  sign  of 
their  conviction  and  committal  to  a  righteous  cause,  the 
Christians  ate  much  bitterness.  I  visited  the  heathen 
father  of  one  of  my  Christian  men  who  went  blind  with 
rage  because  of  his  son's  temerity  ;  and  another  died  in  a 
frenzy  of  uncontrollable  auger,  for  a  like  reason.  In  still 
another  place,  I  barely  restrained  a  heathen  mother  from 
committing  suicide  because  of  her  son's  disgracing  the 
family  in  this  shameless  manner.  *'  He  sinned  the  sin  of 
*Bu  shu  kwei  ku^  "  (not  observing  custom)  was  the  un- 
answerable verdict  of  condemnation  against  him.  Other 
women  could  not  be  thus  restrained  from  such  a  protest 
of  violence  upon  their  own  persons. 

At  a  distance  of  half-way  around  the  globe  it  may  seem 
amusing — this  queue  cutting  in  China.  But  at  close 
quarters  and  in  the  consequences  involved  it  was  serious 
business,  calling  for  a  high  order  of  moral  courage.  In- 
cidentally, it  led  to  many  a  pastoral  visit  and  afforded 
many  an  opportunity  to  show,  in  their  own  homes,  to 
unreasonable  families  persecuting  their  Christian  mem- 
bers, the  reasonableness  of  Christianity. 

But  not  only  were  the  Christians  subjected  to  har- 
rying by  their  relatives.  How  hatefully  the  Manchu 
troops  harried  those  who  did  cut  during  Eevolution  days 
may  be  illustrated  by  the  situation  involved  in  a  visit  to 
a  certain  "  General."  An  officer,  so-styled,  had  come  to 
one  of  the  walled  county  seats  of  our  field.  With  him 
were  some  four  hundred  cavalrymen.  As  the  gentry 
had  decamped  in  terror,  they  preempted  all  the  most 
available  buildings  in  the  city,  like  schools  and  temples 
and  large  private  establishments.  They  had  knocked 
out  the  sides  and  put  in  big  glassed  window  frames  on 
the  sunny  exposures,  and  were  prepared  to  settle  down 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  201 

and  eujoy  themselves  while  in  that  section,  incidentally 
making  it  hot  for  anybody  not  in  accord  with  their  ideas. 
The  reason  of  their  sojourn  was  soon  revealed.  One  of 
the  first  acts  of  "  the  General"  was  to  issue  a  manifesto, 
saying  he  was  not  after  **good'^  people  but  only  after 
**  queueless  tu  fei  ^'  (robbers).  Now,  as  everybody  knew, 
the  tu  fei  belonged  to  the  old  order  of  things,  and  would 
be  the  last  class  of  people  to  cut  their  queues.  That 
manifesto  was  aimed  at  the  Christians  and  bolder  young 
patriots,  for  only  these  two  classes  dared  to  cut  their 
queues. 

And  these  troops,  ofi&cial  harriers  of  the  best  classes  in 
China,  were  scouring  the  country  around  to  find  victims. 
They  evidently  wanted  to  be  busy  enough  to  justify  their 
presence.  Squads  of  them  were  known  to  dash  up  to 
small  milway  stations,  and  when  the  train  pulled  in,  go 
through  and  search  the  coaches,  haul  out  any  person 
luckless  enough  to  be  queueless  whom  they  deemed  sus- 
picious, and  behead  or  shoot  him  right  there  on  the 
station  platform,  or  in  the  yard  of  the  railway,  police 
near  by. 

The  senselessness  of  searching  out  queueless  heads, 
per  se^  may  be  realized  from  the  fact  that  the  Prince 
Regent  had  issued  repeated  manifestoes  saying  all  classes 
might  cut  their  queues.  He  had  cut  his  ;  Yuan  Shi  Kai, 
his  Premier,  had  cut  his  ;  and  the  members  of  the  various 
Boards  in  Peking  likewise  had  dispensed  with  this  use- 
less appendage.  Even  this  ^* General^'  and  his  under 
ofiBcers  had  cut  theirs. 

The  Christians  were,  not  without  reason,  alarmed. 
Accordingly  I  went  to  see  the  "  General "  to  try  to  per- 
suade him  to  differentiate  between  innocent  Christians 
and  guilty  **  tu  fei."  After  an  exciting  episode,  in  which 
a  dozen  soldiers  attempted  to  take  by  force  my  queueless 
cook  from  me  and  haul  him  off  to  a  fate  suggested  by  a 


202  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

bodiless  head  haugiDg  outside  the  city  gate  and  others 
nosed  around  in  the  moat  by  scurvy  curs,  we  reached  the 
**  General,"  with  whom  we  had  a  pleasant  visit.  I  put 
the  case  of  the  Christians  as  strongly  as  possible.  He 
promised  to  do  everything  reasonable.  From  the  stand- 
point of  the  Christians  I  think  there  were  good  results  to 
show  for  the  trip  j  for  thenceforth  there  were  far  fewer 
seizures  or  even  scares  among  the  Christians  in  that 
region  ;  while  astonishment,  to  say  the  least,  was  the  im- 
pression made  on  the  heathen.  In  many  instances  this 
changed  to  good-will. 

Again,  in  another  walled  city,  we  had  a  pastoral  ex- 
perience long-to-be-remembered.  The  magistrate  of  that 
region  was  under  the  evil  domination  of  influential 
foreigners  who  acted  as  informers  for  the  people  higher 
up.  He  was  the  means  of  several  prominent  Eepublicans 
being  ferreted  out  and  delivered  over  to  death  for  their 
patriotic  endeavours.  Pitiful  appeals  for  help  and  pro- 
tection were  daily  reaching  me  from  that  city.  They 
were  carried  by  special  messengers  who  searched  me  out 
in  another  section  of  our  field.  It  seemed  inhuman  not 
to  hasten  to  what  looked  like  a  more  urgent  need.  A 
Christian  loaned  me  a  donkey  and  I  started  off. 

We  had  not  gone  far  when  it  began  to  snow  ;  the  snow 
turned  to  sleet ;  the  wind  increased  and  drove  bitiugly. 
Much  rain  had  fallen  that  autumn,  and  the  road  gradually 
took  on  a  condition  that  apparently  accords  with  many 
Chinese  problems  ;  it  became  **  bottomless. "  The  country 
was  flat ;  so  it  was  all  of  a  piece  whether  we  went  through 
the  fields  or  over  the  road — all  was  a  sheet  of  ooze.  I 
arrived,  wet,  stiff  and  cold,  but  the  Christians'  welcome 
made  it  all  worth  while.  After  a  hot  bowl  of  a  mixture 
floating  in  grease  that  shall  be  nameless,  and  which  con- 
tained meat  of  a  suspicious  flavour,  I  was  ready. 

Not  much  time  was  wasted  in  getting  to  the  yamen 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  203 

yard,  where,  with  reluctance,  I  was  admitted  to  an  un- 
speakable prison.  In  a  low,  cramped  room,  a  wretched 
den,  without  air  and  almost  without  light,  and  daily 
growing  more  filthy,  were  kennelled  some  forty  prisoners 
— old  men,  young  men  and  schoolboys.  They  were 
chained  hand  and  foot  in  a  sitting  posture  and  unable 
to  rise.  So  far  as  they  knew  they  were  likely  to  rot  on 
that  dirt  floor  that  reeked  indescribable  filth.  For  days 
they  had  been  thus,  half-starved  as  to  food  and  air.  Re- 
peatedly they  had  been  taken  out  and  bambooed,  as  the 
result  of  which  they  had,  through  their  friends  and 
relatives,  produced  wheat  and  money  for  the  yamen 
henchmen.  That  is  one  way  these  rascal  hangers-on 
make  their  wageless  living. 

The  crime  of  the  victims  was  that  they  had  cut  their 
queues.  They  were  a  woebegone  lot.  And  from  what 
they  knew  of  the  cruel,  vindictive  nature  of  the  magis- 
trate, they  felt  that  their  days  were  to  be  few  upon  the 
earth.  Some  of  their  women  relatives  were  ill  of  worry 
and  fright.  I  was  certain  that  these  victims  were  inno- 
cent of  any  crime.  They  were  all  plain  country  folk, 
simple  peasants,  who  attended  to  their  own  business. 
How  could  they  harm  the  Government,  especially  the 
young  schoolboys?  So  while  a  group  of  Christians 
prayed,  I  went  to  see  the  magistrate.  As  we  sipped  our 
tea,  I,  in  a  few  words,  without  complaint  or  criticism, 
and  disclaiming  all  thought  of  interfering  with  the  admin- 
istration of  his  affairs,  explained  the  pathetic  condition 
of  the  victims,  and  the  terror  of  those  dependent  upon 
them.  I  also  asked  whether,  if  no  bona-fide  testimony 
convicting  them  of  guilt  could  be  brought  against  them, 
he  would  not  consider  releasing  them,  provided  I,  who 
knew  them  well,  would  go  surety  for  their  proper  con- 
duct. 

Then  I  dropped  the  subject  (which  surprised  him)  and 


204  CHINA  FKOM  WITHIN 

drifted  into  telliug  him  about  a  man  named  Saul,  who 
also  was  very  zealous  in  the  performance  of  what  he  con- 
ceived to  be  his  duty  against  some  supposed  evil-doers. 
To  my  surprise  he  asked  me  to  tell  him  more  about  that 
man  j  so  I  read  the  account  of  the  Damascus  Eoad  con- 
version, of  the  mobbing  and  speech  on  the  castle  stairs, 
and  of  the  shipwreck.  Several  times  he  interjected ; 
*'The  man  had  courage,  courage  ! "  Meantime,  some  of 
his  writers  and  close  henchmen  edged  in  and  listened. 
Both  he  and  they  forgot  about  renewing  the  tea,  about 
relightiug  the  official  pipe.  For  a  while  we  all  forgot 
time.  Finally  at  the  catalogue  of  Paul's  hardships  and 
of  his  willing  endurance  of  them  all,  the  magistrate  re- 
marked :  *^Paul  must  have  had  a  great  God  to  be  willing 
to  sacrifice  for  Him  !  "  In  that  moment  the  magistrate 
had  entered  a  new  world.  Never  Christian  philosopher 
spake  more  profoundly.  As  I  was  about  to  leave,  I 
asked  him  if  I  might  pray  for  him.  ''Yes,  here  and 
now !  '^  came  the  astonishing  answer.  He  put  out  the 
servitors,  but  I  knew  they  were  peeking  while  I  prayed. 

Two  days  later  a  soldier  sought  me  out  at  a  village 
some  miles  away,  and  handed  me  a  telegram  from  the 
magistrate.  It  read  as  follows  c  "  Prisoners  not  guilty. 
Eeleased  and  returned  to  homes  !"  The  people  of  that 
city  and  the  surrounding  villages  cannot  disassociate  that 
episode  and  others  of  like  flavour  that  came  within  the 
shepherding  experience  of  the  Chinese  pastor  of  that 
section  and  myself  from  the  marked  friendliness  of  spirit 
towards  the  Gospel  that  later  resulted,  and  the  inquirers 
and  Christians  who  have  since  thereabout  spruug  up. 

While  en  route  to  another  of  the  walled  cities  of  my 
field,  I  met  a  messenger  coming  post-haste.  He,  an 
elder,  and  one  of  the  best  of  our  field,  was  looking  foi 
me,  and  besought  me  at  once  to  go  to  his  native  village. 
Terrifying  rumour  had  it  that  an  order  had  gone  fortlii 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  205 

from  tlie  near-by  walled  city  for  the  Manchu  troops 
stationed  there  to  raid  that  village  and  destroy  the  Chris- 
tians. They  were  known  to  be  Revolutionists,  and  could 
expect  no  mercy. 

When  we  arrived  the  heathen,  in  wild  panic,  had 
already  fled,  leaving  their  homes  free  to  thieves  and 
looters.  But  the  Christians  had  remained.  They  awaited 
our  coming,  and  on  our  arrival  the  little  flock,  trembling, 
came  together.  Such  a  time  of  stress  is  a  good  test  of  the 
power  of  God's  Word  and  of  the  comfort  of  the  united 
prayer  of  God's  people.  There  is  no  need  with  Chinese 
Christians  of  mincing  the  fact  that  "through  tribulation 
we  must  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God." 

It  would  have  been  as  foolish  as  untrue  to  have  told 
this  flock  not  to  fear  because  * '  there  is  no  danger. "  We 
all  knew  that  there  was.  The  teaching  for  them  was  of 
trust  in  God's  faithfulness  to  keep  His  own.  *'What 
time  I  am  afraid,  I  will  trust  in  Jehovah,  my  Rock. " 

Our  theme  together  was  **  Enduring  hardship  as  good 
soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ."  We  comforted  one  another 
much  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  As  they  prayed,  it  became  the 
settled  conviction  of  the  church  that  as  the  attack,  if 
made,  would  be  upon  them  as  Christians,  it  was  their 
privilege  to  take  the  high  ground  of  Daniel's  three 
friends  in  the  presence  of  the  golden  image  :  "  Our  God 
whom  we  serve  is  able  to  deliver  us  out  of  your  hand,  O 
king.  But  if  not,  be  it  known  unto  thee,  O  king,  that 
we  will  not  serve  thy  gods,  nor  worship  the  golden  image 
which  thou  hast  set  up." 

It  was  fine.  And  never  did  the  little  elder  reveal  him- 
self to  better  advantage.  He  expounded  the  situation 
with  courage,  clearness,  eloquence.  Under  his  leader- 
ship, in  answer  to  their  united  prayer  for  guidance,  it 
became  manifest  that  there  was  no  advantage  in  fleeing 
around  through  a  country  infested  with  marauding  bands 


206  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

of  troops,  and  thereby  at  least  subjecting  themselves  to 
beggary  and  to  seizure  as  suspicious  characters.  So  they 
all  decided  to  stick  together  and  pray  the  thing  through. 
The  '^unexplored  remainder"  of  the  elder's  character 
was  a  gratifying  revelation.  The  day  passed  and  days 
succeeding,  and  the  whirlwind  of  vengeful  soldier  fury 
passed  another  way.  But  the  test  of  their  courage  and 
their  faith  in  God  was  as  complete  as  though  they  had 
stood  in  the  teeth  of  the  storm. 

In  all  parts  of  the  field  it  was  true  that  wild  rumours 
oppressed  the  people  like  an  incubus.  Cut  off  from  au- 
thoritative news,  they  were  helpless  to  know  the  facts, 
and  so  were  the  prey  of  vague  terrors  that  paralyzed. 
It  can  be  imagined  how  they  welcomed  anybody  who 
came  to  lend  a  hand  j  how  eagerly,  even  desperately, 
they  grasped  at  any  word,  any  statement  of  the  situation, 
calculated  to  allay  their  fear.  Such  times  of  chaos  are 
always  used  by  the  lawless  to  prey  upon  their  brothers. 
The  godless  improve  the  opportunity  to  settle  long- 
standing scores. 

As  previously  hinted,  robbing,  burning  and  killing 
were  freely  indulged  in.  Stories  were  vouched  for  of 
heathen  eating  the  hearts  of  enemies.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  the  Christians  endured  their  full  share  of  suffering. 
They  supported  small  bands  of  troops  quartered  upon 
them,  who  worked  their  will ;  they  were  imprisoned  ; 
some  narrowly  escaped  execution ;  some  were  shot  by 
soldiers,  and  some,  in  the  general  terror,  lost  their  reason. 
Some  were  marred  by  bomb  explosions.  It  was  a  kalei- 
doscopic experience  of  fear,  panic,  hardship  and  death — 
bandits  terrorizing  the  highway  ;  student  patriots  battling 
futilely  with  regulars  ;  villages  gutted  and  burned  ;  out- 
rages and  blood-madness  everywhere  ;  the  strong  beating 
down  the  weak  ;  the  people  in  deep  darkness,  and  no  de- 
liverer.    Eepeatedly  I  visited  a  home  where  some  variant 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  207 

of  this  had  happened :  while  the  men  were  away  at  mar- 
ket, or  even  in  their  own  near-by  fields,  roughs  had 
broken  in,  beaten  and  outraged  the  women  folks,  and  de- 
camped with  the  money,  food,  clothes,  quilts,  etc. 

Imagine  what  it  meant,  in  the  midst  of  such  distress, 
trying  to  cover  even  a  few  of  the  points  of  a  five  county 
field.  And  the  villages  so  thick  and  the  people  so  many  ! 
It  wag  as  if  the  inhabitants  of  Chicago  had  a  half-dozen 
pastors,  instead  of  a  thousand.  During  those  months 
from  October  to  June — months  filled  with  civil  strife, 
anarchy,  flood,  famine,  pestilence  and  road  dangers — I 
was  travelling  almost  constantly  among  our  Christians, 
distressed  by  banditti  and  Manchu  soldiers  unreconciled 
to  the  succeeding  Republic,  and  hated  by  heathen  neigh- 
bours attributing  the  inevitable  corollary  woes  of  Revolu- 
tionary conditions  to  the  ^*  Jesus  followers.^'  To  comfort 
and  counsel  these  needy  ones  at  such  a  time  was  a  blessed 
work,  calculated  to  grip  the  energies  of  any  pastor-hearted 
man. 

During  those  months  I  saw  harrowing  sights,  learned 
indescribable  things,  met  tough  characters  aplenty  on  the 
road.  No  one  harmed  me  personally,  though  thieves 
several  times  got  into  my  room  (after  money  intended  for 
evangelists  and  teachers)  and  we  had  some  interestiug 
scenes — but  they  never  got  the  money.  I  made  some  two 
hundred  village  visits,  some  only  of  a  few  hours,  but  all 
appreciated.  I  acted  as  pastor  of  four  churches,  each 
composed  of  village  groups ;  repeatedly  visited  our  six- 
teen market  chapels,  directed  the  work  of  some  thirty 
evangelists  and  several  Bible  women,  had  charge  of  and 
inspected  many  village  schools  ;  acted  as  evangelist  at 
large  in  three  counties  aggregating  three  million  people  j 
out  of  one  unorganized  district  organized  a  church  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  members  ;  examined  one  hundred  and 
forty-five  candidates  for  baptism  ;  received  to  the  Lord's 


208  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

table  fifty-eight  adults ;  baptized  forty-four  babies ;  held 
thirty-nine  communions  ;  excommunicated  thirteen  sin- 
ners. The  balance  of  the  time,  when  I  was  not  in  the 
country,  I  was  at  a  steady  grind  at  Tsingtau. 

But  the  outstanding  impression  now  of  it  all  is  that,  in 
and  through  alarms  and  harassments,  through  stress  and 
trials  of  many  sorts  and  on  all  sides,  pastor  and  people 
were  drawn  together  as  never  before  by  the  cords  of  sym- 
pathy and  love.  Many  heathen  lost  their  insane  prej- 
udices against  the  Gospel.  Many  new  and  unexpected 
opportunities  presented  themselves  for  preaching  Christ. 
And  therefore  more  pioneer  work  was  possible  in  casting 
up  a  highway  for  our  God. 

It  is  naturally  to  be  expected  that  the  direct  teaching 
of  the  Bible  in  classes  would  be  a  vitally  important  phase 
of  sowing  the  good  seed.  Indeed  so  much  is  this  true 
that  every  Mission  station  considers  a  Bible  Class  build- 
ing one  of  the  indispensable  adjuncts  in  the  equipment 
of  the  Station  Compound.  Here,  at  periods  suiting  the 
various  constituencies  of  the  field,  their  times  of  leisure 
from  work,  Bible  classes  may  be  held  for  different  groups, 
as,  e.  g.,  for  evangelists  or  elders  or  Bible  women  or  men 
peasants  or  their  women. 

Our  station  happens,  however,  to  have  no  such  neces- 
sary building,  and  therefore  has  been  forced  at  a  great 
disadvantage  to  hold  many  of  these  classes  in  the  country 
villages.  This  has  usually  meant  that  a  class  must  be 
held  in  a  small,  dark  room,  often  at  great  personal  in- 
convenience to  the  Christian  family  who  offers  the  extra 
room.  No  inn  is  available,  particularly  in  a  small  vil- 
lage J  and  if  there  is,  such  a  place  would  be  out  of  the  ques- 
tion for  women.  Such  a  room  as  has  been  previously 
described  must  be  cleared  out  temporarily  for  their  use. 

Eeference  has  already  been  made  to  the  facility  with 
which  boys  and  girls  in  the  country  schools  learn  long 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  209 

passages  of  Scripture.  Interesting  and  surprising  as  this 
is  to  foreigners  from  the  West  (where  up-to-date  psy- 
chology forbids  children  memorizing  anything  they  do 
not  fully  understand,  even  the  catechism)  a  still  more 
interesting  phenomenon  is  the  eagerness  with  which  the 
ordinary  country  folk  attempt  in  these  classes  to  get  hold 
of  the  Scriptures. 

There  are  few  sights  in  ^this  world  so  pathetic  as  that 
of  matrons  and  old  women  (who  never  had  a  chance  and 
who  never  would  have  but  for  the  Bible),  seated  on  a  car- 
peting of  corn-stalks  placed  upon  the  cold,  damp  earthen 
floor,  and,  by  the  dim  light  that  comes  into  this  room, 
toilsomely  memorizing,  as  it  is  told  to  them,  such  a 
passage  as  John  3  :  16 ;  or  still  more  toilsomely  picking 
out  the  hieroglyphic  Chinese  characters,  the  ability  to 
recognize  and  pronounce  which,  as  the  key  to  the  pre- 
cious meaning  of  the  verse,  they  never  before  dared  hope 
to  possess.  As  one  watches  them,  he  realizes  something 
of  David's  spirit:  "Thy  Word  will  I  eat.'^  It  is  no 
marvel  that  they  display  this  eagerness  to  master  the 
"  heavenly  teaching  "  when  one  notes  that  the  more  they 
get  into  it  the  more  they  realize  instinctively  that  the 
Word  of  God  is  for  them,  and  for  scores  of  millions  of 
their  sex  like  them,  the  only  road  to  recognition  of  their 
womanhood,  to  respect  for  their  wifehood,  and  to  the 
honouring  of  their  motherhood.  It  only  can  restore  to 
them  their  rightful  position  in  the  present  life  or  their 
hope  of  a  future  without  fear.  Until  the  Word  comes  to 
their  homes  they  are  looked  upon  often  as  no  better  than 
the  curs  of  their  street.  Multitudes  of  men  do  not  deign 
to  speak  to  their  wives  in  public,  and  the  women  dare 
not  presume  to  eat  with  the  men,  but  munch  off  of  the 
cold  leavings,  and  often  go  hungry. 

While  the  militarism  of  Europe  does  not  hesitate  to 
doom  millions   of   men  to  KanonenfuUeVj   the  Chinese 


210  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

heathen  systems  do  not  hesitate  to  doom  millions  more 
of  these  women  to  a  living  death,  terrible  beyond  com- 
pare. I  refer  to  the  selling  of  girl  babies,  which  prevails 
to  an  unbelievably  colossal  extent,  the  children  being 
sold  because  of  chronic  penury,  or  because  of  a  season 
of  famine,  or  because  of  poverty  incurred  through 
opium-smokiDg  or  lawsuit  adventures  in  the  courts. 
How  vast  is  this  evil  trade  may  be  suggested  from 
the  fact  that  ^Hhere  are  five  thousand  registered  slave 
girls  in  brothels  of  the  foreign  settlement  (not  to  men- 
tion the  Chinese)  of  Shanghai  alone.  Tientsin  has  at 
least  half  this  number,  and  Peking  a  thousand,  while  the 
smaller  provincial  capitals  and  commercial  settlements 
boast  at  least  twenty  thousand  more."  Only  God  Him- 
self knows  how  many  additional,  even  in  these  places, 
are  unregistered  slaves,  not  to  speak  of  the  concubines 
and  other  classes  of  ''singsong"  girls. 

Now  women  who  in  Bible  classes  learn  Christ  know 
not  only  that  it  is  He  who  tears  off  the  mask  of  supersti- 
tion from  their  minds  and  who  opens  their  eyes  to  see 
Him  in  His  beauty,  but  that  it  is  He  alone  who  can 
make  their  men-folks  pity  them,  and,  as  ''weaker  ves- 
sels," helpless  before  heathen  customs  and  male  callous- 
ness, treat  them  even  decently.  And  while  they  cannot 
say  why  or  how  this  is  so,  they  know  it  instinctively. 

Chinese  etiquette  prescribes  that  a  woman  may  not 
wander  abroad  alone.  She  never  leaves  her  village  with- 
out the  escort  of  male  relatives,  and  she  leaves  it  at  all 
with  increasing  rareness  through  the  years.  The  annual 
visit  back  to  the  family  in  her  own  town  gradually  grows 
more  and  more  infrequent  with  the  passage  of  time.  To 
leave  home  is  for  her  a  great  experience.  It  is  a  sight  to 
see  such  women  pouring  in  for  a  meeting.  Some,  almost 
frozen  or  dust-smothered,  arrive  on  donkey-back,  across 
treeless  plains,  or  through  stinging  wind-storms,  ove^. 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  211 

long  stretches  of  sandy  river  bottom.  Others,  well-nigh 
racked  to  pieces  in  mule  litters,  or  trundled  in  on  squeak- 
ing wheelbarrows  by  men  blackened  with  sweat  and 
grime.  Over  ruts  big  and  little  they  come,  past  fenceless 
farms  and  through  roadless  fields.  Others  come  bounc- 
ing along  in  two- wheeled  Chinese  carts— ponderous, 
springless — built,  it  is  averred,  "  to  withstand  the  crash 
of  worlds. "  To  the  questionable  privilege  of  riding  in 
these  many  a  passenger,  after  having  his  head  knocked 
for  a  little  while  over  a  rocky  road,  prefers  the  blisters  of 
walking.  Other  women  still  come  seated  astride  a  pair 
of  panniers — two  wicker  baskets  hanging  down,  one  each 
side  of  the  animaPs  back,  from  the  top  of  which  may 
often  be  seen  protruding  the  head  of  a  youngster — a 
method  of  locomotion  as  picturesque  as  it  is  uncomfortable 
and  dangerous.  Many  a  woman,  who  has  been  unable  to 
afibrd  coming  in  any  of  these  styles,  has  made  the  journey 
on  foot,  carrying  her  baby  on  her  back,  and  over  one  arm 
a  big  basket  containing  sweet  potatoes  and  black  bread 
and  other  delectables  for  physical  nourishment  during 
the  days  of  the  class.  In  numerous  instances  in  our 
province  the  women  have  walked  many  li  (one-third  of 
an  English  mile)— twenty,  forty,  sixty.  Sometimes  the 
result  has  been  such  a  tearing  of  their  already  tender, 
maimed  feet  that  for  weeks  return  was  impossible  till 
recovery  in  a  measure  of  these  tortured  members  had 
taken  place.  Imagine  even  grandmothers  hobbling  in  on 
such  tiny  crippled  feet ! 

In  some  respects  these  conferences  for  women  are  the 
most  interesting  of  any  sort,  partly  because  of  the  un- 
speakably important  place  that  the  motherhood  of  any 
race  plays  in  its  degradation  or  exaltation,  partly  be- 
cause of  the  depths  to  which  these  women  have  been  sunk 
by  the  heathen  conditions  around  them  which  they  have 
been  powerless  to  combat.     In  any  such  class  there  are  apt 


213  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

to  be  some  purely  heathen  womeu,  brought  by  Christian 
neighbours.  But  it  is  to  be  remembered— for  it  is  of  no 
use  to  dodge  the  hateful  truth — that  the  believing  members 
of  the  class  have  been  themselves  a  part  of  that  physically 
alive  but  spiritually  dead  womanhood  of  China,  whose 
condition  of  wretchedness  and  woe  surpasses  description. 
Moving  in  a  monstrous  shade-world  of  mental  vacuity 
and  hopeless  ignorance  and  superstition ;  filled  with  daily 
envyings  and  bitterness,  strifes  and  jealousies,  engendered 
by  commingled  Confucianism,  Buddhism  and  Taoism, 
millions  upon  millions  of  such  women  have,  during  the 
complacent  centuries  of  neglect  by  their  Western  sisters, 
been  guilty  of  all  the  awful,  unknown  abominations  of 
heathenism,  of  which  the  apostle  Paul  dared  hardly  hint 
in  his  character  sketch  of  the  Gentile  world.  These  are 
women  who  have  shared  the  guilt  if  not  the  act  of  dis- 
embowelling sons  for  obstreperousness  ;  women  who  have 
helped  to  drown  their  daughters-in-law  for  rebelling 
against  unendurable  hardships  and  maddening  servitude  ; 
women  who  have  consented  to  their  frenzied  husbands 
striking  their  daughters  dead  for  daring  to  long  for  a  larger 
and  a  better  life  ;  women  who  have  deliberately  pounded 
the  feet  and  ankle  bones  of  their  daughters  in  order  to 
bind  them  tighter  that  brothel  keepers  might  give  a  larger 
price  for  them ;  women  who,  in  the  presence  of  fellow- 
villagers  and  local  priests,  have  been  forced  to  use  a 
heavy  peasant's  grub  hoe  to  do  unspeakable  things  to 
girl  babies  and  thereby  avert  the  wrath  of  devils  to 
family  and  village  cursed  by  an  undue  increment  of  femi- 
nine humanity ;  women  who  have  cast  out  even  male 
infants  to  be  eaten  by  the  village  curs  under  the  delusion 
that  sick  boys  are  demons  in  disguise  plaguing  the  home 
through  added  care,  sorrow,  disease  and  death ;  women 
who,  in  famine  days,  have  not  stopped  short  of  selling 
even  their  sons  for  fifty  cents  apiece.     Yet  out  of  such  a 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  213 

pit  Jesus  had  digged  them— out  of  the  homelessness  and 
the  helplessness,  out  of  the  lovelessness  and  the  hopeless- 
ness and  the  lostness  of  their  lives. 

At  a  particular  conference  I  have  in  mind  the  enter- 
tainment of  the  delegates  in  the  homes  of  the  Christians 
was  out  of  the  question ;  there  were  too  many.  And 
the  heathen  do  not  ordinarily  open  their  doors  to  Chris- 
tian guests  for  ''foreign  rites."  A  dry  brick  platform 
covered  with  a  mat  to  us  seems  cheerless  enough  as  a 
bed.  But  in  this  instance  the  only  alternative  was  the 
temple,  disgraced  and  discredited  after  the  Boxer  war, 
when  the  German  troops  had  pulled  down  the  mud-bodied 
gods  and  even  thrown  some  of  them  into  the  village 
pond  :  since  which  the  local  deities  had  been  given  the 
cold  shoulder,  and  the  temple  had  stood  vacant  and  un- 
used. Incidentally,  what  a  commentary  on  the  old  order 
of  things  in  ''changeless  China '^  that  heathen  headmen 
were  willing  to  allow  the  use  of  the  village  temple  for  the 
entertainment  of  Christian  women  while  they  studied  the 
Bible  1  To  be  sure,  the  entertainment  was  not  quite  up 
to  Western  standards  and  ideas.  The  one  big  room  was 
black  with  the  grime  and  filth  of  years.  The  floor  was 
of  dirt.  The  windows  were  few  and  on  one  side  sealed 
up.  The  barn-like  enclosure  was  unheated,  and  through 
the  big  door  the  chill  wind  could  drive  freezingly. 
Camping  on  the  cold  ground  as  best  they  could  the  dele- 
gates slept ;  and  here  seated  cross-legged,  or  squatting  in 
the  courtyard,  they  twice  daily  ate  their  table  d^h6te  of 
boiled  cabbage,  millet  soup  and  large  leather- like  pan- 
cakes made  of  the  coarse  flour  eaten  by  the  poor. 

In  numerous  instances  the  women  were  divided  into 
groups,  sometimes  only  two  or  three  persons  studying 
the  same  thing  together,  in  an  attempt  the  easier  to  get 
the  truth  into  their  dulled  brains.  Large  coloured  wall 
pictures,    such   as  illustrate  the  Sunday-school  lesson, 


214  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

have  proved  of  considerable  aid  iu  bringing  the  Scrip- 
ture scenes  and  teachings  vividly  before  them. 

Always  it  has  happened,  as  the  women  have  together 
studied  the  precious  truths  of  the  Bible,  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  has  brought  the  strong  conviction  that  a  knowledge 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  illustrated  in  the  life,  is  China's 
one  hope.  Eepeatedly  have  they  said  :  ^' We  must  have 
women  who  know  how  to  read  the  Bible,  who  have 
learned  its  meaning,  and  can  teach  it  to  us."  Chinese 
women  outside  of  marriage  have  practically  no  legitimate 
way  of  satisfying  their  own  hunger  ;  much  less  are  they 
apt  to  have  any  considerable  incomes.  Therefore  the 
horror  in  their  minds  of  being  divorced.  In  that  pre- 
dicament they  belong  neither  to  their  own  family  (which 
gave  them  up  at  their  marriage)  nor  to  the  family  of  the 
mother-in-law.  What  can  Christian  peasant  women  so 
circumstanced  do  in  the  way  of  money  raising  ?  Eepeat- 
edly, however,  without  visible  resources  of  income,  in 
the  characteristic  fashion  of  those  inured  to  penury,  they 
have  set  about  making  something  out  of  nothing.  At 
one  conference  a  line  was  strung  across  the  room.  Each 
woman  had  come  arrayed  in  all  the  glory  of  all  the  gew- 
gaws that  she  could  muster — bracelets,  bridal  rings,  ear 
pendants,  hairpins — pitiful  things,  cheap  and  ugly  to  the 
last  degree,  but  very  dear  to  the  feminine  peasant  heart. 
Women  have  given  these  with  the  thought  that  some 
missionary  friends  might  give  them  to  their  lady  friends 
in  America  and  they  might  receive  therefor  money  to 
enable  them  to  have  a  Bible  woman  or  to  help  in  the 
Woman's  Bible  School.  The  surrender  of  these  things 
by  such  spiritually  ill-nurtured  souls,  in  order  that  they 
might  dispense  the  Bread  of  Life — small  loaves  and  fishes 
indeed  for  their  starving  sisters— has  meant  more  of  sac- 
rifice probably  iu  numerous  instances  than  for  an  Amer- 
ican woman  to  forego  a  long-planned  trip  to  Europe,  or 


THE  GALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  215 

to  give  up  her  pleasure  yacht  or  motor-car.  In  many 
instances  they  have  tithed  generously  out  of  the  odd  cop- 
pers they  could  scrape  together.  In  some  cases  where 
families  were  far  enough  along  in  the  Christian  life  and 
the  position  of  the  women  assured  enough  in  influence, 
women  delegates  have  vowed  that  when  the  crops  of  pea- 
nuts or  millet  or  wheat  or  sweet  potatoes  or  broom  corn 
were  spread  on  the  threshiug  floor,  they  would  guarantee 
that  a  tithe  would  be  laid  aside  to  help  in  the  spread  of 
the  Gospel. 

Then,  too,  before  these  women  topics  have  been  dis- 
cussed which  for  the  first  time  gave  them  a  vision  of  the 
larger  life — such  topics  as  ;  1.  "How  Christian  women 
should  adorn  and  dress  themselves.  "2.  "  Should  women 
bring  their  babies  to  church  1'^  3.  "  Winning  the  chil- 
dren to  Chrisf  4.  "  How  ought  Christian  women  to 
show  their  love  for  their  country  ?  '^  5.  "  How  should 
families  be  taught  and  nourished  in  the  Doctrine!" 
6.  "The  household's  health  safeguarded  by  the  Chris- 
tian mother.'^  7.  "Marriage  engagements  in  heathen 
families."  8.  "The  shame  of  foot-binding."  9.  "Beau- 
tiful characters  of  saintly  women  in  Holy  Wrif 
10.  "How  ought  Christian  husband  and  wife  to 
treat  each  other f"  11.  "How  to  treat  the  pastor." 
12.  "Every  Christian  woman  a  soul- winner."  13.  "The 
evils  of  anger,"  etc.  Incidentally,  I  recall  one  of  our 
lady  missionaries  giving  a  health  talk  to  the  women  of 
such  a  conference.  It  was  a  difficult  task  to  tell  about 
fundamental  laws  of  decency  and  cleanliness  when  the 
majority  of  her  listeners  had  been  accustomed  to  break 
all  the  laws  of  which  she  was  speaking  as  a  matter  of 
course.  However,  she  made  an  incisive  speech  that  won 
their  hearts.  It  was  packed  full  of  sense  spoken  in  sym- 
pathy and  love.  She  mildly  suggested  a  few  not  unrea- 
sonable ideas,  such  as  refraining  from  face  paint,  which 


216  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

often  poisons  the  whole  system,  occasionally  taking  a 
bath,  scrubbing  the  baby  well  once  at  least  before  he 
reaches  adolescence,  using  clean  water  to  wash  the  dishes, 
etc.  To  fortify  the  rationale  of  her  startling  innovations, 
she  delved  a  little  into  the  mystery  of  microbes  in  daily 
life,  and  showed  scientifically  some  of  the  disadvantages 
of  ^'  ma-ing,^'  that  is,  of  working  oneself  up  to  a  pitch  of 
uncontrollable  fury,  rushing  into  the  street,  howling  and 
screaming  with  rage,  reviling  the  person  who  has  aroused 
one's  ire,  cursing  his  ancestors  and  defaming  his  unborn 
descendants,  thereby  always  making  entertainment  for  the 
street  generally,  and  sometimes  invalidism  for  the  central 
figure  personally. 

When  the  missionary  had  finished  her  argument,  a  na- 
tive doctor,  a  plain  blunt  man,  got  up.  Without  the 
usual  self-depreciatory  introduction  he  jumped  right  into 
his  subject,  to  this  effect:  *^I  am  telling  you  what  you 
all  know.  This  '  invisible  bug '  business  of  which  the 
wise  foreign  lady  doctor  so  learnedly  speaks  may  all  be 
true ;  they  may  all  be  there ;  but  they  cannot  be  men- 
tioned in  the  same  breath  with  bugs  that  are  harboured 
which  you  ca7i  see. ' '  Thus  it  went  on,  an  unburdening  and 
an  excoriation  plainly  spoken:  "You  know  that  when 
an  animal  dies  of  disease  you  help  to  eat  it,  and  when  you 
are  told  that,  for  eating  rotten  fruit  and  vegetables,  stom- 
ach troubles  will  come,  you  say  :  '  Did  not  these  things 
cost  us  money  ? '  And  when  unbelieving  fake  medicine 
men  inoculate  your  babies  against  the  plague,  using  cast- 
off  cans  of  spoiled  condensed  milk  from  the  West,  and 
your  babies  die,  then  you  have  turned  in  and  joined  the 
pack  who  curse  the  foreign  devils.  Sisters,  these  things 
ought  not  so  to  be.  We  have  got  to  clean  up  and  use  a 
little  sense.''  After  this  fashion  he  flayed  them  alive, 
good-naturedly,  but  very  forcibly.  Then,  amid  a  sea  of 
black  heads  nodding  feminine  assent  to  his  cogent  logic, 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  217 

the  doughty  doctor,  praying  the  good  Lord  to  ^*open 
their  faces,"  took  his  seat. 

In  such  classes  these  country  women  have  improved 
their  chance  to  learn  Cliristian  ideas  of  cleanliness,  of 
health,  and  of  proper  family  relationships— that  godliness 
which  is  profitable  for  the  life  that  now  is,  as  well  as  for 
the  life  to  come. 

These  women  return  home,  often  to  a  welcome  for  their 
message,  in  many  instances  to  increased  opposition. 
Sometimes  they  are  speedily  rewarded  with  a  favourable 
hearing  and  reception  of  the  truth.  Sometimes  those 
about  them  in  bitterness  harden  themselves  to  persecute 
the  witnesses.  I  am  thinking  now  of  a  mountain  woman 
who  years  ago  had  part  in  such  a  class,  and  at  that  class 
zealously  learned  Scripture  passages.  On  her  return  to 
the  family  of  her  heathen  mother-in-law  she  was  not  only 
beaten  but  was  forbidden  ever  again  to  attend  a  Christian 
meeting.  Her  husband's  home  is  up  a  mountain  valley 
far  away  from  her  own  Christian  family.  We  received 
word  that  she  was  dying,  and  with  her  brother  went  to 
visit  her.  Her  husband,  a  peasant  boor,  was  so  angry  at 
seeing  us  that,  in  a  frenzy  of  uncontrollable  rage,  he  leaped 
into  the  air,  coming  down  upon  the  path  with  a  resound- 
ing thwack  on  the  soles  of  his  heavy  nailed  shoes,  at  the 
same  time  ejaculating  the  short,  sharp  syllable  :  ^^  Pei !  ^' 
into  which  he  concentrated  all  the  venom  of  disgust,  dis- 
dain, pride  of  superiority,  hatred  and  contempt  combined, 
that  he  could  muster.  He  broke  away  up  the  path 
towards  his  hut  muttering  in  Berserker  rage  :  **I'll  beat 

her  to '^    Without  knowing  Saul,  he  showed  SauPs 

spirit,  "breathing  out  threateniugs  and  slaughter." 

With  heavy  hearts  and  praying  for  God  to  work  with 
power,  we  followed  after.  When  we  arrived  a  group  of 
children,  clad  mostly  in  the  garb  of  nature  and  itching 
with  curiosity,   surrounded  us.     Then  several  stalwart 


218  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

sons,  slowly  puffing  their  pipes,  shuffled  silently  towards 
us,  sizing  us  up.  Daughters-in-law,  with  babes  in  arms, 
and  in  a  dishabille  such  as  only  heathenism  knows,  shame- 
facedly yet  curiously  stared  out  at  us  from  the  safe  inside 
corners  of  the  yard  door.  Finally  the  old  mother-in-law 
came  out,  blood  in  her  eye.  She  looked  as  if  prepared  to 
give  her  sons  and  grandchildren  and  daughters-in-law  a 
demonstration  of  what  a  proper  reviling  is.  Yet  the  Lord 
helped  us  to  get  in  ahead  of  her — nothing  would  have 
stopped  her  after  she  had  got  started.  She  became  inter- 
ested in  what  we  had  to  say,  and  before  long  had  invited 
us  into  the  yard  to  say  more  about  the  ^'  Good  Sage,  Yie 
Su  '^  (Jesus).  She  squatted  on  the  ground  before  us,  elbows 
on  knees,  her  wrinkled  and  wizened  face  held  in  her  long 
skinny  fingers.  She  was  a  hungry  soul,  starved  without 
knowing  it.  Queer  setting  for  a  sermon,  that  little  yard 
— dogs,  chickens,  donkey,  babies,  children,  litter,  filth, 
smells,  and  grown-ups  distracted  between  curiosity  and 
prejudice.  But  the  Spirit  was  working  even  there.  As 
suddenly  as  unexpectedly  she  invited  us  in  to  see  the 
woman  on  the  kang — and  a  part  of  our  prayer  was  an- 
swered. 

The  husband  had  preceded  us  and  in  brute  anger  had 
worked  his  cowardly  will.  In  a  little  dingy  room,  full 
of  flies,  a  wan  face  peered  out  from  under  a  malodorous 
quilt.  There  were  unmistakable  welts  on  face  and  neck, 
and  new  ones.  She  could  only  whisper,  but  was  cheerful. 
After  greetings,  and  ignoring  the  fresh  bruises,  she  said : 
**Tell  me  about  God,  the  Dyer  of  souls. '^  *'Do  you 
mean  this  ?  "  And  I  quoted  :  *  *  Come  now  and  let  us 
reason  together,  saith  the  Lord :  though  your  sins  be  as 
scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  snow ;  though  they  be  red  like 
crimson,  they  shall  be  like  wool.^'  Then  she  said  :  ''Tell 
me  what  the  Holy  Book  says  about  how  good  it  is  to 
obtain  Christ."    And  I  read  PauPs  glorious  words  :  ''But 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  219 

what  things  were  gain  to  me,  those  I  counted  loss  for 
Christ.  Yea,  doubtless,  and  I  count  all  things  but  loss 
for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my 
Lord  :  for  whom  I  have  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things  and 
do  count  them  but  dross  that  I  may  win  Christ,  and  be 
found  in  Him,  not  having  mine  own  righteousness,  which 
is  of  the  law,  but  that  which  is  through  the  faith  of 
Christ,  the  righteousness  which  is  of  God  by  faith  :  that 
I  may  know  Him,  and  the  power  of  His  resurrection  and 
the  fellowship  of  His  sufferings,  being  made  conformable 
unto  His  death ;  if  by  any  means  I  might  attain  unto  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead.'^  *^Ah,  that  is  it,^^  she  mur- 
mured. *^And  now  tell  me  about  the  great  God  and 
who  shall  see  Him  and  how  they  speak  in  His  palace. " 
And  I  read:  **And  I  saw,  and  behold  a  great  multi- 
tude .  .  .  out  of  every  nation  .  .  .  before  the 
Lamb  .  .  .  saying,  ^  Blessing  and  glory  and  wisdom 
and  power  to  our  God '  .  .  .  and  they  shall  hunger 
no  more  .  .  .  and  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears 
from  their  eyes.''  "Yes,"  she  murmured  again.  "That 
is  it — tell  them,"  nodding  feebly  towards  her  persecutors, 
who  had  crowded  in  and  who  stood  wondering  and 
hushed.  Her  witness,  the  verses  she  had  memorized, 
with  all  else  that  she  had  learned  at  the  Bible  class,  has 
not  availed  to  date  in  that  mother-in-law's  family  :  but 
the  story  of  her  steadfast  integrity  in  the  Gospel,  endur- 
ing as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible,  has  been  a  power  in 
sowing  the  good  seed  of  the  Word  in  many  another  life. 

In  another  instance  a  mountain  elder,  who  at  such  a 
class  got  a  vision  of  the  Victorious  Life  in  Christ,  went 
home  to  live  a  similar  one  in  his  own  village — even 
though  faced  by  great  obstacles  ;  and  it  was  used  to  be- 
come a  strong  factor  in  turning  many  members  of  his 
clan,  heretofore  opposing  the  Gospel,  to  the  confession 
and  service  of  the  living  God. 


CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

In  a  land  of  Christian  civilization,  where  a  large  per- 
centage of  children  have  the  privilege  of  attending  public 
school  and  gaining  at  least  an  elementary  education,  it  is 
hard  to  realize  what  a  Mission  school  in  a  heathen  land 
means.  To  speak  of  it  as  a  cheering  light  in  darkness  is 
to  put  it  mildly.  Imagine  our  most  thickly  populated 
states,  like  Ohio,  Illinois,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  York, 
with  practically  no  Government  schools  except  in  county 
seats  and  large  market  towns.  And  then  imagine  the 
population  multiplied  many  fold  until,  in  some  sections 
of  our  field,  the  itinerator  may  count  villages,  thirty  to 
one  hundred  and  ten  of  them,  all  about  him,  without 
schools  of  any  sort — Christian  or  secular. 

The  work  of  sapper  and  miner  is  essential  in  present 
day  fighting  to  assure  victory  against  enemies  ensconced 
in  trenches,  and  equally  vital  is  the  work  of  the  Mission 
school  in  the  villages.  The  local  Christians  provide  a 
building  in  which  the  school  is  to  be  held,  and  for  the 
initial  year  in  which  the  school  is  opened  provide  at  least 
one- third  of  the  teacher's  salary,  being  supposed  to  in- 
crease their  proportion  each  succeeding  year.  The  room 
furnished  is  usually  small  and  dingy — dirt  floored  and 
fireless,  its  rough  mud  walls  not  only  without  kalsomine 
or  paint,  but  black  with  smoke  and  grimed  with  filth  ; 
while  from  the  corn-stalk  ceilings  often  depend  cobwebs, 
heavy  with  dust-stalactites  of  filth.  Should  one  apply  a 
lighted  candle  to  the  wall,  he  would  be  apt  to  find  its 
cracks  alive ;  these  denizens  of  the  cracks,  though  reg- 
ular in  attendance  upon  school,  hungering  for  something 
else  than  human  knowledge.  The  windows  on  the  street- 
ward side  of  the  room  are  apt  to  be  high  in  the  wall,  being 
thus  made  so  that  thieves  may  not  climb  in,  and  often 
bricked  up  as  an  additional  precaution.  Facing  the  yard 
may  be  two  windows  lower  down  and  larger.  The  wooden 
slats  of  these  are  pasted  over  with  paper  through  which 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  221 

opaque  light  enters.  The  tables  and  backless  stools  are 
of  crude  workmanship.  There  are  usually  no  pictures 
unless  provided  by  the  missionary,  nothing  sesthetically 
attractive.  The  pupils  begin  early  in  the  morning  pre- 
paring their  lessons  in  a  unison  of  din,  each  apparently 
trying  to  outshout  the  other  as  he  attempts  to  pack  the 
knowledge  of  the  book  by  layers  into  his  memory  cham- 
ber. Sitting  during  the  winter  day  in  such  a  cold  damp 
room  is  assuredly  no  picnic.  Nor  is  it  more  delectable 
during  warm  weather,  when  the  air  inside  is  heavy  and 
fetid.  Practically  ventilationless  is  that  room ;  small  and 
cheerless  is  the  mud  yard  ;  as  yet  with  rare  exceptions 
the  teacher  of  such  a  school  is  not  apt  to  be  very  capable 
in  leading  calisthenics — if  at  all,  he  usually  does  it  at  the 
end  of  the  afternoon.  Studying  from  early  in  the  morn- 
ing till  breakfast  time,  the  boy's  intermission  is  only  suf- 
ficient to  go  home  and  eat  breakfast ;  to  return  and  study 
till  noon  recess ;  time  taken  out  for  dinner  (plus  nap,  if 
weather  is  warm);  to  return  and  study  and  recite  till 
supper-time ;  and  finally  return  and  study  till  bedtime. 
The  fact  that  children  survive  this  process  is  another  of 
the  many  instances  of  the  tough  physical  fibre  of  this 
race. 

According  to  some  modern  educational  theories  as  to 
the  omnipotence  of  environment  these  schools  ought  all  to 
have  failed  miserably.  However,  the  Bible  is  in  them 
supremely  honoured  ;  it  is  taught  as  part  of  the  daily  cur- 
riculum ;  chapel  is  held  morning  and  evening,  at  which 
time  its  chapters  are  read  and  expounded  ;  great  chunks 
of  it  are  memorized  through  a  series  of  years ;  and  the 
pupils  become  men  of  God  grounded  in  the  Word. 

One  of  the  miracles  in  connection  with  the  Bible  is  that 
where  it  is  reverently  studied  it  creates  an  atmosphere  of 
sound  learning  and  Christian  character.  This  is  quit^ 
contrary  to  the  spirit  of  Chinese  heathenism  which  is 


222  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

bowed  under  a  burden  of  unusable  learning  and  which 
gropes  in  the  shadow  of  moral  unreliability. 

Thus  names  often  given  to  these  village  schools,  though 
flowery,  are  an  index  of  their  real  nature  :  ^ '  Ming  Liang  " 
(bright  light)  and  '^Dei  Hsing"  (character  progress),  as 
over  against  the  half-bakedness  of  many  an  official  school. 
Again,  a  Chinese  proverb  speaks  of  Chinese  character, 
the  fruitage  of  Chinese  heathen  learning,  as  '^rotten  wood," 
adding  significantly:  '*  Rotten  wood  cannot  be  carved. '' 
How,  in  marked  contrast  to  the  fruitage  of  heathen  vil- 
lage schools,  they  infuse  gospel  grace  and  strength  into 
that  character-building  which  is  the  only  bulwark  of  a 
people — for  righteousness  alone  exalteth  a  nation — is  seen 
in  many  a  little  life  story,  in  many  an  episode,  in  which 
a  Christian  child  figures  prominently.     Here  is  one. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  I  reached  a  village  where  I  was 
to  conduct  a  communion  service.  When  we  entered  the 
church — the  typical  primitive  ^'church  in  the  house" — 
it  was  packed.  The  audience  had  been  waiting  patiently 
more  than  an  hour  for  our  arrival,  spending  the  time  in 
singing  and  exhorting  one  another.  After  the  service 
many  of  them  would  have  to  walk  several  miles  in  the 
dark.  More  persons  would  have  been  present  had  it  not 
been  for  the  fact  that  one  or  more  from  every  household 
has  to  stay  at  home  when  the  others  leave,  and  act  as 
**kan  men  ti'^  (gate  keepers),  guarding  the  family  yard 
and  property  against  thieves.  All  arose  and  bowed  and 
indulged  themselves  in  hearty  greeting,  and  then  the 
service  began. 

Until  one  faces  such  a  service,  set  down  in  the  midst  of 
raw  heathenism,  he  may  be  surprised  to  see  how  much  of 
a  part  adventitious  aids  have  played  in  his  conception  of 
what  are  necessary  surroundings  and  conditions,  in  order 
that  he  may  decently  and  in  order  participate  in  the  cele- 
bration of  the  Holy  Supper — soft  cushions,  a  comfortable 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  223 

temperature,  carpeted  floors,  a  dignified  commuDity  out- 
fit, noiselessly  moving  ministrants,  exquisitely  beautiful 
music  artistically  rendered.  In  the  catacombs  outside  of 
Eome,  where  for  very  joy  the  early  Christians  partook  of 
the  feast,  the  visitor  to-day  fails  to  find  any  suggestion  of 
fitting  aesthetic  accompaniments — paid  choir,  pipe  organ, 
orchestra,  clustered  Gothic  columns,  rose  windows,  pri- 
vate pews.  Conditions  here  would  doubtless  have  shocked 
the  *^  proper  "  home  communicant.  In  front  of  the  pas- 
tor stood  a  rickety  old  table  grimed  with  filth.  No  spot- 
less linen  of  sacred  home  memories  covered  it ;  nothing 
covered  it.  What  preparations  had  been  made  had  been 
the  work  of  the  elders  j  for,  while  the  pastor  helps  with 
suggestions,  the  responsibility  is  theirs,  and  the  only  way 
to  learn  perfection  is  through  imperfect  attempts. 

On  the  table  was  a  foreign  beer  bottle  containing  native 
wine,  coarse  plates  with  whole  Chinese  biscuits  upon 
them,  and  several  dirty,  cracked  bowls.  Over  them  was 
thrown  a  towel  not  exactly  clean.  The  minister  groaned 
inside ;  but  it  is  ticklish  business  to  wound  the  sensibili- 
ties of  ignorant,  untrained  leaders  with  whom  one  works, 
and  who  are  doing  the  best  they  know  how.  Here  was 
not  the  time  nor  place  to  remove  the  bottle  or  to  rebuke 
the  elders.  So  with  a  prayer  for  grace  the  minister  be- 
gan his  sermon.  In  the  midst  of  it  some  naked  boys 
standing  just  in  front  of  the  communion  table  called  the 
preacher's  attention  to  a  big-lettered  poster  printed  in 
English  and  Chinese  on  a  newspaper  which  hung  across 
the  paper  panes  of  the  window  sash:  ^'Pabst  Beer  ia 
Always  Pure!"  Extraordinary  accompaniments  of  a 
communion  service !  Incidentally,  I  might  add  that  the 
enterprising  American  cigarette  and  beer  firms  have,  by 
their  advance  agents,  penetrated  to  the  far  confines  of  the 
Eepublic  and  *'  posted  "  many  of  the  supposedly  inacces- 
sible nooks  of  the  outlying  sections. 


224  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

In  the  homeland  I  had  never  celebrated  the  Lord^s  Sup- 
per at  eventide.  But  many  a  time  here  I  have  met  with 
God's  people  around  His  table  by  a  flickering  candle  or  a 
dingy  bean-oil  wick.  And  it  has  helped  me  to  a  sense 
of  nearness  to  the  Lord  and  to  a  reality  of  experience  with 
Him  to  recall  that  on  that  night  wherein  He  was  betrayed, 
as  He  celebrated  that  last  Passover  awefully  changed  into 
the  first  Eucharist,  possibly  He  also,  by  some  faint  light, 
looked  upon  the  shadowy  faces  of  His  friends,  that  hum- 
ble group  gathered  around  the  table  ;  and,  with  no  exter- 
nal aids  to  worship  or  to  bolster  up  the  solemnity  of  the 
occasion,  He  also  with  them  drew  near  to  the  throne  of 
the  ever-living,  ever-adorable  God,  pure  Spirit,  to  find 
strength  in  time  of  need,  and  to  pledge  anew  deathless 
fealty  to  Him  with  whom  we  have  to  do. 

Under  these  crude  surroundings  here — often  in  a  half- 
donkey-stable  half-storeroom^  or  what  looks  like  a  junk- 
shop — one  gets  down  to  reality.  And  I  am  always  amazed, 
much  though  we  teach  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons, to  realize  that,  despite  the  sweat  and  dirt  and  the 
smell,  despite  the  simplicity  of  humble  folk  and  the  half 
darkness  of  soul  out  of  which  they  are  struggling — despite 
every  hindrance  and  drawback — the  Holy  Spirit  is  there 
in  the  midst,  again  and  again,  and  in  power  to  convict 
and  to  energize,  as  on  that  first  great  night. 

I  have  always  felt  a  profound  sympathy  with  Martin 
Luther,  who  trembled,  sometimes  well-nigh  fainted,  as  he 
led  in  the  celebration  of  the  Eucharist.  The  responsibility 
is  as  fearful  as  blessed.  That  night  I  felt  it  more  than  usual. 
Hard  hearts  were  there,  baptized  but  unprepared  for 
blessing.  I  could  feel  it  as  I  preached.  Those  who  had 
presented  themselves  for  examination  were  ignorant  of  the 
step  they  professed  to  take.  And  I  was  heavy  of  heart, 
not  only  at  inability  to  receive  them,  but  at  their  utter 
failure  to  understand  their  privilege  ;  and  because  there 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  225 

were  uo  candidates,  as  expected,  from  the  school  group  at 
this  place. 

The  little  room  iu  which  we  were  meeting,  like  many 
a  schoolhouse-church-aud-family-residence  one  in  which 
we  frequently  met,  had  a  half  partition  across  it  in  the 
rear  which  made  one  end  of  the  ^^kang"  (brick  platform 
used  as  bed)  ;  and  on  this,  farthest  away  from  the  min- 
ister and  where  they  naturally  were  least  able  to  hear, 
though  needing  the  teaching  most,  sat  the  women  and 
girls.  The  service  from  their  end  had  been  much  dis- 
tracted by  the  crying  and  moving  of  children.  Through 
the  dim  light  the  air  was  murky  with  dust  that  rose  from 
the  dried  dirt  of  the  floor  and  that  sifted  from  the  cob- 
webs, heavy  with  the  accumulation  of  years,  depending 
from  the  corn-stalk  ceiling. 

Just  preceding  the  distribution  of  the  elements  I  noticed 
particularly  among  the  group  of  schoolboys  seated  in  front 
a  little  fellow  with  a  face  like  a  cherub.  It  should  have 
commanded  my  attention  earlier,  as  it  was  both  unusually 
clean  and  attractive.  Though  only  six  years  old,  he 
listened  intently,  occasionally  looking  wistfully  at  the 
elements  on  the  table.  As  I  dwelt  upon  the  love  and 
pity  of  Jesus,  the  boy^s  face  filled  with  distress,  and  soon 
he  left  the  room  in  tears.  One  elder  followed  him  outside 
to  learn  what  was  the  trouble.  He  answered,  **I  love 
Jesus  and  want  to  be  baptized  and  join  the  church  !  ^^ 

Thinking  this  a  mere  childish  whim,  the  elder  ques- 
tioned and  prayed  with  him,  and  counselled  him  to  keep 
on  learning  the  Doctrine  so  that  he  might  enter  the 
church  when  older.  Then  the  lad  returned  to  his  back- 
less stool,  to  sit  there  listening  not  many  more  minutes 
before  he  began  to  weep,  this  time  more  intensely.  The 
elder  took  him  outside,  talked  and  prayed  with  him  a 
second  time,  and  comforted  his  heart  by  promising  that 
he  would  tell  the  session. 


226  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

"When  I  had  finished  speaking,  the  elder  arose  and 
with  trembling  lips  told  the  audience  how  smitten  he  had 
felt  that  no  adult  was  willing  to  confess  Christ,  and  none 
even  of  the  schoolboys ;  and  that  this  lad,  a  Chinese 
Samuel,  had  arisen — a  rebuke  to  himself  and  to  them — 
steadfast  in  his  wish  to  confess  Jesus  before  all.  What 
should  be  done?  His  conscience  troubled  him  till  he 
had  spoken  out  this  matter.  Could  a  lad  so  young  be 
received  into  the  church  at  once  ?  Was  there  reason  for 
it  ?    Certainly  this  was  not  according  to  custom. 

After  a  solemn  silence,  the  other  elder,  a  big,  dignified 
man,  a  Mission-school  teacher  of  many  years'  experience, 
arose.  Now,  in  a  husky  voice,  he  said  :  "  Let  the  session 
here  and  now  examine  this  little  one."  Then  by  way  of 
proof,  he  turned  to  passages  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
read  them  slowly  and  distinctly,  that  all  might  hear  and 
understand. 

As  the  lad  was  put  on  a  stool  in  front  of  all  the  people 
a  hush  fell  upon  the  room — and  remained.  Fearlessly 
he  stood  there,  eager  for  the  examination,  his  big  black 
eyes  lustrous  with  love  to  Jesus.  His  mother  was  a 
school-teacher,  young  and  pretty  and  neatly  dressed,  who 
had  been  deserted  by  her  bright  and  educated  husband 
for  becoming  a  Christian.  It  seemed  natural  for  the 
mother,  quietly  and  unbidden,  to  come  from  the  rear 
and  stand  with  her  arm  about  him,  a  mist  of  joy  in  her 
eyes.  Then  his  older  sister,  a  baptized  communicant, 
also  came  and  stood  on  his  other  side. 

This  examination  was  a  surprise.  It  revealed  the  fact 
that  the  boy  had  long  known  how  to  pray  ;  that  morning 
and  evening  he  prayed  to  God  to  help  him  become  a 
minister ;  that  his  mother  had  taught  him  to  sing  many 
hymns  and  memorize  many  Bible  verses,  and  that  he  did 
both  well.  Like  Hannah,  she  had  given  Lim  from  his  birth 
to  the  Lord,  and  like  Hannah,  had  taught  her  boy  to  feel 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  227 

in  his  young  soul,  *'  Here  am  I. "  With  keen  zest  he  gave 
his  childish  witness,  clear  and  unaffected,  excellent  and 
reasonable.  I  have  had  some  joyous  experiences  as  a 
pastor  in  the  homeland,  training  and  receiving  children 
into  the  church,  but  never  had  I  seen  anything  so  un- 
studied and  artless,  and  so  profound  in  impression. 
What  joy  the  Lord  must  have  felt  at  such  simple,  trans- 
parently sincere  testimony  as  was  given  that  night ! 

But  it  did  not  end  there.  Seven  large  schoolboys 
arose  and  confessed  Christ,  and  were  examined  j  also  the 
wife  of  the  boy's  teacher  ;  also  four  big  girls  in  the  girls' 
school.  They  were  out  of  heathen  homes,  but  made  a 
good  witness,  and  knew  what  they  were  doing  and  that  it 
involved  persecution.  The  Holy  Spirit  manifestly  worked. 
Then  a  man  got  up  whom  I  had  hoped  would  meet  that 
day  with  the  session.  He  was  illiterate  but  influential. 
More  than  a  year  before  I  had  taught  him  the  Lord's 
Prayer.  He  was  repentant  and  desirous  to  learn,  but  in 
his  ignorance  had  lacked  courage.  He  feared  his  family. 
Having  money,  they  could  make  it  especially  hard  for 
him.  However,  he  clung  tenaciously  to  the  model  prayer, 
daily  repeating  it.  *' And,''  he  added  with  the  ingenu- 
ousness of  a  child,  *'at  its  close  I  always  *ka  ton'  to 
Jesus  !  "  And  so  saying,  he  then  and  there  repeated  the 
prayer — reverently  and  with  deep  emotion — and  then  got 
down  on  the  dirt  floor  and  knocked  his  head  three  times 
in  the  dust  to  God.  I  helped  him  up,  gently  protesting, 
but  he  quickly  replied:  ^*I  have  always  honoured  the 
idols  thus.  Should  I  do  less  for  the  true  God?"  He 
laid  what  he  knew  of  life's  glory  in  the  dust  for  Christ's 
sake.  With  tears  streaming  down  his  face,  he  pledged 
himself  before  the  audience  :  '*  I  confess  my  sins.  I  trust 
in  Jesus  to  save  and  keep  me  ;  I  have  been  a  coward ;  I 
now  resolve  to  endure  all  evil  consequences  of  taking 
Him  into  my  life !  '^ 


228  CHINA  mOM  WITHIN 

Such  a  sight  is  strange  and  awe-compelling — to  see  the 
scales  lift  from  the  eyes  of  a  blinded  soul,  and  see  that 
soul  spring  eagerly  out  of  the  heathen  blackness  in  which 
he  groped  into  the  splendour  of  the  light  that  is  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ,  Lord  of  Glory. 

All  these  were  that  night  received  by  the  session.  It 
was  a  blessed  communion.  So  grateful  to  God  were  some 
of  the  women  for  what  they  experienced  that  night  that 
after  the  celebration  of  the  Supper  they  did  what  we  had 
long  been  powerless  to  persuade  them,  unwilling,  to  do. 
They  had  no  money,  so  they  brought  their  most  prized 
earthly  possessions — earrings,  bracelets,  rings ;  big,  cheap, 
and  for  the  most  part  crude  and  ugly  gewgaws,  of  little 
intrinsic  value,  but  the  best  they  had — and  laid  them  on 
the  altar  towards  the  salary  of  a  Bible  woman,  fearfully 
needed  in  their  midst.  This  so  stirred  the  men  that  they 
subscribed  the  balance  needed. 

The  people  had  not  wanted  special  services  nor  a  re- 
vival. Now  they  wanted  both  ;  and  this  Spirit-refresh- 
ing opened  the  way  for  a  series  of  tent  meetings,  resulting 
in  a  blessing  to  church  and  heathen.  And  the  end  is  not 
yet.  Again  has  God  vindicated  Himself,  in  ways  beyond 
our  fathoming.  Truly  our  God  worketh  wonders,  using 
the  small  things  of  the  world,  the  despised,  even  a  young 
Chinese  boy,  to  break  hardened  heathen  hearts  and  to 
kindle  with  holy  enthusiasm  the  hearts  of  Christians 
grown  cold.  And  a  mother  who  had  been  trained  in  a 
village  school  was  behind  it  all. 

Out  of  such  places  come  men  who  are  the  makers  of  a 
new  China,  the  true  and  best  makers  of  it ;  for  out  of 
Christian  text-books  on  "  Western  learning  "  they  learn 
something  of  true  patriotism  and  real  progress,  of  free 
government  and  ordered  liberty.  And  they  learn  it  from 
Christian  teachers  who  turn  their  backs  upon  all  hope  of 
higher  emolument  in  service  of  the  Government,  which  bids 


THE  CALL  AND  ITS  ANSWER  229 

strongly  for  tliein  because  utterly  inadequate  is  its  supply 
for  its  thousands  of  proposed  schools,  short  of  teachers 
for  its  scores  of  millions  of  potential  pupils.  And  they 
do  this  for  the  munijacent  salary  of  $48  to  $Q6  Mexican  a 
year  (the  equivalent  of  |20  to  $30  gold)  and  board  them- 
selves. Indeed  every  strong  leader  of  the  Chinese  Church, 
whom  I  know  personally,  has  begun  his  training  in  a 
Christian  Mission  school,  located  in  some  such  room  as  I 
have  described  ;  and  he  has  developed  into  what  he  has 
become  out  of  this  humble  institution,  hidden  away  in 
some  unknown  village.  Such  a  true  pastor  as  Eev. 
Wang  Shu  Chwen  ;  such  a  winsome  soul- winner  as  Ting 
Li  Mei ;  such  a  flaming  evangelist  to  city  gentry  as  Liu 
Kwaug  Chao  ;  such  a  gifted  and  trained  elder  as  Ting 
Li  Sui ;  successful  and  godly  business  man  as  Elder  Liu 
Shu  San  ;  skilled  and  consecrated  school  leader  as  Prin- 
cipal Wang  Shu  Ching — all  known  and  honoured  in  this 
great  Province.  Many  others  of  like  calibre  could  be 
mentioned. 

Such  powerful  factors  have  these  schools  already  be- 
come, through  the  men  trained  therein,  in  the  life  of 
China  j  such  manifestly  important  foundations  for  its 
future  greatness  have  they  begun  to  lay ;  that  it  is  a 
matter  of  general  comment  among  discerning  students. 
Admiral  Oscar  Yon  Truppel,  the  Governor  for  ten  years 
of  the  German  Imperial  Colony  in  China,  once  said  to 
me  in  a  confidential  talk  at  his  mansion:  **But  you 
Americans  have  the  inside  track  of  us  in  China." 
"Why?"  I  asked.  "Oh,  because  of  your  numerous 
village  schools.  You  are  stamping  your  institutions  and 
political  view-point  upon  its  youth.  But  you  Americans 
are  rich;  your  Government  can  afford  to  aid  them." 
"Ah,  but,''  I  replied,  "these  schools  are  not  aided  by 
our  Government,  but  are  supported  by  the  voluntary 
gifts  of  American  Christians,  many  of  whom  sacrificingly 


230  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

contribute  to  help  support  them  in  cooperation  "with  the 
parents  of  the  Chinese  pupils. "  Astonished,  he  replied  : 
**  At  any  rate  the  destiny  of  China,  in  so  far  as  the 
good  influences  are  moulding  it,  is  in  the  keeping  of  these 
country  church  schools."  And  who  can  prove  that  he  is 
not  right  ?  A  million  such  schools,  instead  of  the  pitiful 
hundreds,  and  China  might  in  this  generation  be  won  for 
Christ. 


VII 

Salt  and  its  Savour 
A  Study  in  Steadfast  Witness- Bearing 


VII 

SALT  AND  ITS  SAYOUE 

NO  one  who  has  taken  the  pains  to  investigate 
the  facts  longer  doubts  that  the  Christians  of 
North  China  in  1900  were  Petrine,  founded  on 
the  **Kock  Christ  Jesus.  ^'  Some  20,000  native  Chris- 
tians in  North  China,  many  of  them  in  the  first  genera- 
tion out  of  heathenism,  deliberately  chose  to  lay  down 
their  lives  rather  than  deny  their  Lord.  And  the  denial 
was  made  possible  on  such  easy  terms.  All  they  had  to 
do  was  to  burn  incense  sticks  before  the  idols,  or  to  sign 
a  paper  that  they  had  recanted  the  Foreign  Devil  Doc- 
trine, or  merely  to  draw  a  cross  in  the  dirt  and  spit  on  it. 
The  testimony  of  missionaries  on  the  ground  and  of 
persecutors  and  neighbours  and  relatives,  all  goes  to  show 
that  during  that  fateful  year  almost  every  part  of  He- 
brews 11 :  35-38  was  again  fulfilled.  In  addition  to  the 
martyrs,  many  thousands  more  had  their  homes  and 
property  destroyed,  being  destitute,  afflicted,  tormented. 
In  the  case  of  city  riots,  both  missionaries  and  converts 
were  stoned  and  hacked,  if  not  sawn,  asunder. 

**  Children  even  confessed  Him.  The  Boxers  of  Tung 
Chow  themselves  related  the  story  of  how  two  little  lads 
of  thirteen  and  fourteen  years  of  age  met  their  death. 
They  suspected  the  children  of  being  Christian  scholars, 
so  they  asked,  *  Are  you  believers  in  the  foreign  faith  ?  ^ 
*Yes,*  replied  the  children  quite  boldly;  *  we  are  fol- 
lowers of  Jesus. ^  The  persecutors  brought  out  cords  to 
bind  them,  with  a  view  to  dragging  them  to  the  Boxer 
altar.     *  There  is  no  need  to  bind  us,'  said  the  boys; 

233 


234  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

*we  will  not  try  to  escape.  Every  step  that  we  take 
towards  your  altar  is  a  step  nearer  to  heaven.'  In  a 
few  moments  their  lives  were  sacrificed  by  the  Boxer 
swords. "  ^ 

Bonds  and  imprisonment  were  constantly  resorted  to  in 
cases  where  instant  death  was  not  resolved  upon.  Yet 
they  were  faithful  under  torture. 

^' A  Christian,  called  Yen,  had  his  house  and  property 
burned  by  the  Boxers.  Then  he  himself  was  caught  and 
killed.  One  of  his  sons  was  then  caught ;  and,  because 
he  would  not  betray  the  hiding-place  of  his  family,  he 
was  tortured.  His  hands  and  feet  were  tied  behind,  and 
the  pole,  by  which  he  was  suspended,  passed  between. 
Still  refusing  to  reveal  it,  burning  incense  was  placed 
upon  his  back  and  stone  placed  upon  that  V^^ 

All  were  tempted  in  every  way  both  to  deny  the  Lord 
Jesus  or  merely  to  renounce  their  religion  " for  a  time'' ; 
and  in  both  cases  were  begged  by  friends  ^^just  to  bow 
before  the  idols  whilst  remaining  faithful  at  heart." 
But,  in  spite  of  every  temptation,  many  were  tortured, 
not  accepting  deliverance.  Others  were  jeered  at  in  the 
moment  of  their  death  by  fire  or  sword  yet  steadfastly  en- 
dured the  trial  of  cruel  mockings  and  scourgings.  I 
knew  of  an  old  Christian  who,  given  the  option  of  recant- 
ing or  being  immediately  plunged  into  a  caldron  of  boil- 
ing water,  chose  the  latter. 

There  were  also  cruel  mockings. 

**A  Christian,  named  Ho,  was  examined  in  order  to 
find  out  the  hidiug-place  of  the  missionaries,  but  he  re- 
fused to  tell.  He  was  beaten,  and  the  yamen  underlings 
ridiculed  him,  saying,  *  Doesn't  it  hurt  ?  You'll  soon  be 
in  heaven.'  He  was  beaten  with  over  a  thousand  strokes, 
and  then,  when  nearly  insensible,  thrown  into  prison, 

*  Brysou :  "  Cross,  Crown." 

'  Edwards :  "Fire  and  Sword  in  Shansi," 


SALT  AND  ITS  SAYOUR  235 

and  fettered  hand  and  foot.  Another  Christian,  also  in 
prison,  attended  to  his  few  wants  ;  but  he  was  only  able 
to  take  a  little  water,  and  the  fourth  day  happily  put  an 
end  to  his  suffering  !  "  * 

Not  a  few  were  men  who  had  formerly  lived  bad  lives 
but  were  out  of  weakness  made  strong. 

*^  Wang  was  well  known  in  the  city  as  having  formerly 
been  a  gambler,  opium  smoker,  and,  in  fact,  a  regular 
blackleg.  The  genuineness  of  his  conversion  was  mani- 
fested by  a  complete  change  of  life.  Early  in  July  he 
was  set  upon  and  seriously  wounded.  They  then  bound 
him  and  held  a  mock  trial.  Many  of  the  people  said, 
*  We  know  you  were  formerly  a  bad  character,  but  have 
now  reformed.  Only  leave  the  foreign  sect,  and  you  will 
not  be  killed.^  He  replied,  'I  have  already  left  the  for- 
eign sect  (referring  to  Buddhism),  and  now  follow  the 
Supreme  Euler,  believe  in  Jesus,  and  worship  the  true 
God.'  He  was  soon  taken  out  of  the  city  and  barbarously 
killed.^'  * 

And  yet,  though  that  crisis  of  1900  brought  forth  its 
solemn  and  irrefragable  testimony,  many  people  in  the 
homeland  seem  to  believe  that  China's  Christians  are  of 
the  "  rice  "  brand,  those  who,  sordid  and  low-motived, 
are  in  the  Church  for  what  they  can  get  out  of  it.  This 
devil's  lie  about  the  quality  of  Chinese  Christians  every- 
where persists.  The  missionary  on  furlough  is  amazed 
by  weird  conceptions  current  and  the  garbled  stories  be- 
lieved concerning  them.  Unless  one  has  itinerated  over 
the  United  States  in  the  interests  of  missions  ;  heard  even 
the  pillars  of  the  churches  (intelligent  business  men)  ask 
him  in  all  seriousness  if  he  really  thinks  the  Chinese  have 
souls ;  been  ex  cathedra  informed  that  converts  are  bought 
at  two  dollars  a  head,  and  positively  assured  that  they 

*  Edwards;  "  Fire  and  Sword  in  Shansi." 


236  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

don't  stick — unless  one  has  had  this  experience,  and  has 
realized  that  nine-tenths  of  the  people  do  not  believe  that 
missions  are  necessary  or  worth  while— he  could  not 
credit  that  sucli  notions  of  straw  are  still  in  1916  stuffed 
and  stood  up,  to  be  knocked  down  before  an  assenting 
public. 

From  whom  are  constantly  emanating  these  distortions 
and  slanders  with  regard  to  China's  *'rice  Christians"? 
Especially  do  rich,  worldly-minded  globe-trotters  claim 
to  know  them — they  who  engage  the  most  elegant  state- 
room suites  on  ocean  palaces,  and  put  up  at  the  most 
fashionable  and  luxurious  hotels,  and  rarely  inquire  for  a 
Mission  Station  or  a  convert  while  their  steamers  are 
coaling  and  provisioning  in  port.  Equally  do  many  ship 
captains  and  of&cers  claim  to  know  them — they  whose 
lives  are  rebuked  by  all  that  the  ''rice  Christians  "  have 
been  taught.  So  also  do  the  foreign  inmates  and  keepers 
and  frequenters  of  the  haunts  of  vice  scattered  all  up  and 
down  the  China  coast — these  who  hate  the  mission  move- 
ment that  everywhere  confronts  them.  So  too  do  many 
high  society  people  of  the  Far  East— these  who  take  pride 
in  teaching  Chinese  merchants  how  to  use  Western  wines 
at  foreign  banquets,  and  how  to  bet  in  foreign  fashion  at 
the  spring  and  fall  races,  always  held  on  the  Sabbath. 
And  so  also  do  many  white  merchants — these  who,  hav- 
ing accumulated  their  piles,  are  almost  ready  to  return  to 
their  native  lauds,  but  who,  though  living  fifteen,  twenty, 
even  thirty  years  in  the  land,  can  converse  with  Chinese 
only  through  their  English  speaking  head  Compradores, 
themselves  knowing  little  of  the  real  life  and  thought 
about  them. 

The  fact  is,  as  witnessed  by  those  who  know  conditions, 
that  the  sufferings  which  came  upon  the  Christians  in 
1900  were  greater  only  in  degree  than  those  which  to-day 
are  often  visited  upon  Chinese  who  boldly  come  out  to 


SALT  AND  ITS  SAVOUR  237 

confess  Christ.  Our  station  field  stretches  through  five 
counties,  with  a  population  estimated  by  the  Government 
at  some  five  millions  of  people.  It  is  my  privilege  to 
itinerate  up  and  down  through  these  multitudinous  mud 
villages  of  the  peasants.  I  understand  some  of  the  con- 
ditions that  obtain  in  some  of  those  villages.  I  know 
personally  many  of  the  Christians  dwelling  in  them.  I 
believe  that,  when  a  man  decides  to-day,  no  less  than  in 
Boxer  days,  to  become  a  Christian  he  gets,  humanly 
speaking,  the  small  end  of  the  bargain.  And  I  know 
very  few  *'rice^'  Christians  j  but  many  who  have  en- 
dured hardship  for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  good 
soldiers. 

There  are  few  things  more  pathetic,  few  things  that  tug 
harder  at  the  heart-strings  of  a  pastor-spirited  man,  than 
the  spiritual  isolation  of  a  single  Christian  or  a  family  in 
a  heathen  village.  Though  in  closest  physical  contact 
with  kindred  and  neighbours,  the  elect  one  is  often  shut 
out  from  their  sympathies  and  lives  as  completely  as 
Holland's  sea-dykes  separate  ocean  from  land.  The 
multitudinous  aids  to  righteousness  afforded  in  our  home- 
land, the  adventitious  moral  helps  of  church  institutions, 
the  encouragement  of  noble  Christian  friends  and  of  the 
beloved  home  circles  who  pray  for  our  growth  in  grace, 
the  very  spirit  of  our  public  life  and  social  intercourse, 
which  is  charged  with  a  thousand  blessings  brought  by 
Christ  and  which  the  people  of  a  country  where  Christ  is 
known  breathe  in  as  unconsciously  as  they  do  thanklessly 
— all  these  are,  in  the  case  of  most  Chinese  Christians, 
lacking.  When  the  Chinese  start  sweet-potato  slips  for 
planting,  they  coax  them  into  vigorous  growth  by  plant- 
ing them  on  the  kang,  the  brick  platform  used  as  family 
bed  and  warmed  by  flues  from  beneath.  The  outward 
stimulus  to  Christian  living  that  the  ordinary  Christian 
gets  from  the  environment  of  his  village  life  would  be 


238  CHINA  mOM  WITHIN 

comparable  to  "  forcing  "  sweet-potato  slips  in  an  ice- 
house. 

Parts  of  my  field,  though  a  peasant  population,  have 
over  two  thousand  people  to  the  square  mile.  And  there 
are  hundreds  of  heathen  villages,  practically  untouched 
by  the  Gospel,  that  I  have  never  yet  been  able  to  enter 
even  once.  With  a  parish  the  size  of  mine  the  itinerant 
missionary  can  hardly  make  frequent  pastoral  calls.  But 
when  he  does  arrive,  how  unfeignedly  glad  they  are  to 
see  the  "Shepherd,"  to  welcome  him  with  a  prayer  of 
gratitude  for  safe  arrival,  to  perform  with  alacrity  the 
simple  offices  of  host ;  and  how  loth  to  have  him  depart, 
escorting  him  sometimes  far  out  of  the  village  upon  his 
way,  and  parting  only  after  a  prayer  of  benediction  upon 
him  and  his  plans,  which  often  includes  petitions  for 
safety  from  perils  of  rivers  and  roads  and  robbers.  And 
then  the  converts  have  slowly  retraced  their  steps  village- 
ward,  often  to  face — a  little  hell. 

The  membership  of  some  of  the  sixteen  churches  con- 
stituting our  station  parish  is  scattered  through  scores  of 
villages.  Few  in  the  Home  Church  can  realize  what  it 
means  to  these  humble,  lonely  Christians  to  have  the  mis- 
sionary enter  their  cheerless  mud  huts  and  kneel  on  their 
dirt  floors  in  prayer  with  them,  and  expound  the  Scrip- 
ture in  their  yards  to  them  and  their  neighbours.  How 
hungry  are  they  for  spiritual  sympathy  and  strength ! 
And  how  much  their  pitifully  narrowed  lives  need  it ! 
.And  what  these  starved  souls  love  most  of  all  is  the  Holy 
Communion.  I  have  never  elsewhere  so  entered  into  the 
mysterious  depths  of  God's  love  and  into  the  sweet  com- 
fort and  cheer  of  the  religion  of  His  dear  Son,  never  else- 
where so  seen  the  naked  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  in 
that  service  amid  conditions  of  squalor  and  grinding  pov- 
erty and  the  odiousness  of  heathenism  with  the  lid  off. 
Then,  communing  with  ignorant,  isolated  brethren,  the 


SALT  AND  ITS  SAVOUR  239 

ugly  millet  bowl  (often  cracked)  seemed  transfigured  into 
a  chalice,  mystic,  wonderful ;  then,  as  we  together  ate  the 
coarse,  unbolted  bread,  by  faith  there  was  brought  to  us 
the  thrilling  ineffable  realization  that  we,  even  we,  were 
part  of  His  body,  the  holy  catholic  Church,  and  partici- 
pants with  Him  in  His  glory. 

Whenever  a  man,  by  his  prayers  and  teaching  and  ex- 
hortation, has  won  several  members  of  his  family — enough 
of  them  to  control  the  situation — he  starts  "  the  church  in 
the  house."  It  becomes  the  seat  of  local  worship,  and,  in 
turn,  opens  the  way  for  the  planting  of  a  Christian  village 
school,  acorn  for  the  potential  oak,  the  future  church. 
But  all  this  is  usually  accomplished  only  after  hard  labour 
on  stubborn  ground.  Frequently  he  gains  nobody,  and 
stands  alone  for  years,  the  single  Christian  in  his  village 
and  neighbourhood. 

When  a  man  becomes  a  real  Christian,  the  break  with 
the  hateful  past  has  to  be  so  complete  that  he  inevitably 
concentrates  the  venom  of  heathenism  upon  himself.  Its 
temptations,  its  hoary  customs,  its  blasphemies,  its  inev- 
itable sins — gambling  and  lawsuiting,  cheating  and  re- 
viling, concubinage  and  slavery,  ancestor  worship  and 
witchcraft,  superstition  and  demon  worship,  adultery  and 
geomancy,  and  the  vile  power  of  priests— all  rise  up  to 
smite  him — smite  him  not  only  from  without  but  from 
within  ;  for,  as  one  trusty  Chinese  elder,  who  knew  soul 
travail  as  well  as  bodily  torture,  told  me  :  "Please,  in 
my  stead,  salute  your  Christian  friends  in  America  and 
convey  to  them  this  message  :  *  You  have  been  born  in  a 
country  where  there  are  no  idols  ;  you  have  not  been  de- 
filed by  them  as  we  have  been  :  their  defilement  has  gone 
into  us  nice  dye  into  cloth.^  "  The  Christian  and  his  house, 
while  they  become  a  beacon  of  light  for  sin-tossed  men, 
become  also,  by  the  very  fact  of  their  conspicuousness,  a 
target  for  the  diabolism  of  Satan  and  his  minions.    And 


240  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

in  withstanding  their  onsets  ^Hhese  little  ones  "  illustrate 
what  Li  Hung  Chang  recorded  in  his  diary  as  a  curijous 
fact  for  which  he  could  not  account :  ^^This  Christianity 
makes  poor  and  lowly  people  bold  and  unafraid." 

What  is  the  daring  of  the  Christian's  stand  and  what 
its  challenge  to  the  powers  of  darkness  can  be  realized 
only  by  knowing  concrete  cases.  Those  that  follow  are 
taken  from  notes  in  my  missionary  diaries,  and  throw 
suggestive  light  on  the  varied  experiences  connected  with 
the  pastoral  duties  of  an  evangelistic  itinerator.  The 
plain  narration  of  these  incidents  constitutes  the  argument 
of  this  lecture,  the  proof  of  my  theme.  These  are  all 
common,  every-day  sufferings,  endured  for  the  sake  of 
The  Name.  Not  all  h^ve  happened  to  the  same  person  or 
in  the  same  village ;  but  they  are  among  the  ordinary 
methods  that  are  employed  to  make  a  Christian,  in  the 
expressive  language  of  the  Chinese,  **eat  bitterness." 
And  these  multitudinous  sorrows  that  are  born  out  of  the 
myriads  of  villages  will  never  get  recorded  in  a  book  of 
martyrs ;  curious  visitors  can  never  see  them,  nor  Board 
secretaries  know  them.  Each  missionary-pastor  has  his 
own  set  of  cases ;  and  their  inarticulate  cry,  while  it  as- 
cends to  God,  is  lost  on  the  sea  of  the  woes  of  heathenism. 

First,  there  is  the  persecution  that  originates  in  the 
family.  And  this  perhaps  is  the  bitterest  of  all.  During 
the  Revolution  that  established  the  Republic,  some  men, 
not  Christians,  in  North  China  cut  their  queues — not 
many.  But  it  was  noteworthy  that  even  before  the  Revo- 
lution many  Christians  cut  theirs  as  a  sign  of  being  Chris- 
tians. One  day  I  emerged  unexpectedly  on  the  street  of 
a  village,  a  village  with  one  Christian,  and  saw  ahead  of 
me  that  identical  young  man  crying  and  limping.  He 
held  his  neck  sidewise  and  stiffly  ;  his  face,  clawed  fiercely 
by  finger  nails,  was  dripping  blood  ;  his  eyes  were  black- 
ened J  his  finger  joints  were  swollen  ;  and  he  later  showed 


SALT  AND  ITS  SAVOUR  241 

me  great  welts  on  his  shin  bones.  He  had  returned  home 
from  a  queue  cutting-bee  with  a  queueless  head,  his  badge 
of  disci pleship  ;  his  mother  and  wife  and  sister,  feeling 
the  family  disgraced  beyond  measure,  and  the  spirits  of 
their  ancestors  irretrievably  outraged,  had  risen  up  in  the 
might  of  their  wrath,  and  with  sticks  and  clubs  laid  to 
upon  his  body  with  such  vigour  that  he  required  weeks 
to  recover. 

Again  I  baptized  the  oldest  of  four  sons  ;  the  father  had 
protested  to  the  son  at  the  contemplated  step.  Soon  after 
the  father  "fen  kia"  (divided  his  inheritance).  By  the 
custom  of  that  district  the  oldest  should  receive  much 
more  relatively  than  the  others.  In  this  case  he  received 
nothing  for  himself  and  wife  and  children,  though  he  had 
done  his  share  in  earning  the  common  family  living. 

In  one  village  a  mature  son  for  confessing  Christ  was 
disinherited,  and,  penniless,  had  to  leave  his  ancestral 
village.  In  another,  a  heathen  son  and  wife  drove  off  the 
old  father  and  mother,  thinly  clad — and  out  into  the  win- 
ter storm,  to  die.  The  children  had  decided  to  bend  the 
wills  of  the  parents  to  recant  the  Jesus  Doctrine  or  to 
break  them. 

In  another  village  the  only  Christian  was  an  elder. 
For  a  long  time  I  did  not  know  he  had  a  brother — an 
older  brother,  a  giant  in  stature — fierce,  overbearing, 
brutal,  garrulous,  impervious  to  reason.  Years  ago  for 
general  wickedness  and  blasphemy  he  had  been  excom- 
municated by  a  senior  missionary.  One  day  I  arrived 
unexpectedly  in  that  village  and  found  the  church  build- 
ing (which  stood  on  land  given  by  the  elder  and  family, 
and  which  had  been  built  largely  through  them)  full  of 
straw  and  grain  and  wickers  of  peanuts  and  dried  sweet- 
potato  vines,  hog-feed,  and  otherwise  desecrated.  It  had 
.been  put  there  by  the  older  brother  to  chagrin  the  elder 
and  to  dare  me.     Then  it  came  out  how  this  older  brother 


242  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

— rough  and  insolent  and  sin-hardened — had  been  carry- 
ing on  for  years  a  systematic  harrying  of  his  smaller  and 
younger  brother,  hounding  that  church  elder  nearly  to 
death. 

Another  Christian,  a  useful  evangelist  who  went  to 
South  Africa  to  preach  to  the  coolies  in  the  mines  there, 
was  an  influential  man  in  his  village,  and  secured  the 
consent  of  the  village  elders  to  turn  out  the  idols  from  a 
neglected  temple  and  to  use  it  for  a  Christian  school. 
His  heathen  parents,  incensed  at  such  sacrilege  to  the 
gods,  went  to  the  county  magistrate,  and  from  him  de- 
manded an  official  destruction  of  their  son.  And  he  con- 
sented ;  for  there  is  an  old  custom  or  law  of  the  land  by 
which,  in  virtue  of  parents'  power  of  life  and  death  over 
children,  they  can  so  demand  and  not  be  refused.  How- 
ever, before  the  magistrate  could  execute  the  decree,  the 
son  had  been  warned  and  had  fled  for  his  life,  leaving  his 
wife  and  children  to  great  distress  in  the  parental  home. 

At  one  of  our  market  towns  an  inquirer  was  distracted 
by  the  continual  petty  nagging  of  his  wife  and  brother — 
persecution  that  is  comparable  to  the  plague  of  flies,  frogs, 
lice  and  boils— until  he  decided  to  leave  home  and  hire 
out  in  a  neighbouring  county.  After  some  weeks  he  re- 
turned home  to  be  told  by  the  neighbours  that  horror  of 
his  sacrilegious  step  in  becoming  "  a  second  degree  deviP' 
(as  converts  are  called — the  missionary  being  the  first) 
had  so  preyed  on  the  mind  of  his  wife  that  she  had  died 
of  "worry  and  fright.'' 

Imagine  this  scene,  part  of  which  I  saw  :  a  wife  tug- 
ging at  the  coat-tail  of  her  husband  and,  the  entire  length 
of  the  long  ambling  village  street,  reviling  him  before  a 
jeering  crowd  of  heathen  onlookers  ;  and  for  three  mortal 
miles  (Chinese)  she  hung  on,  cursing,  and  attempting  to 
pull  him  (crazy  as  she  believed)  back  from  the  hated 
foreign  worship,  till  he  arrived  at  "  a  church  in  the  house'* 


SALT  AND  ITS  SAVOUR  243 

of  a  iieighbouriug  village  where  he  was  to  meet  with 
fellow  ChristiaDS.  Then  the  wife  turned  and  fled  pre- 
cipitately, lest  some  one  bewitch  her  with  one  of  the 
*'  Jesus  pills  "  of  cursed  magic. 

In  another  village  a  widow  was  persecuted  long  and 
relentlessly  because  she  would  not  renounce  Christ. 
When  I  came  to  know  her,  she  was  seventy-one  years  of 
age,  none  to  take  her  part,  still  tormented  by  the  sons 
and  daughters-in-law  of  her  own  household  because  she 
would  not  **shao  tsi  shao  hsiang"  (burn  ghost  money 
and  incense)  with  them  to  the  shades  of  their  ancestors. 

On  the  23d  of  October,  1913,  while  examining  mature 
candidates  for  baptism,  their  parents  stalked  in,  and 
threatened  on  their  return  home  to  commit  suicide  if  the 
candidates  did  not  at  once  renounce  their  interest  in  a 
foreign  religion.  Committing  suicide  is  in  China  an 
accredited  kind  of  protest,  as  common  as  emphatic. 
When  committed  on  account  of  the  Jesus  religion, 
it  is  **to  spite  ^'  the  renegade  member  of  the  family, 
and  to  discourage  others  from  becoming  thus  foolish 
and  impious,  converts  to  strange  doctrines.  Common 
methods  of  suicide  by  the  women  peasants  in  my  part  of 
the  world,  in  protest  against  the  male  members  of  their 
families  joining  themselves  to  the  Jesus  Devil  Sect,  is  to 
jump  into  the  village  wells,  drink  sulphur  soaked  off  the 
heads  of  Japanese  matches,  and  destroy  themselves  with 
the  cabbage  knife.  It  is  a  consummate  triumph  on  the 
part  of  the  suicide,  because  it  achieves  double-edged  suc- 
cess in  two  worlds  at  the  same  time.  The  immediate  ad- 
vantage to  a  suicide  of  this  mode  of  procedure  is  expli- 
cable in  the  light  of  the  Chinese  belief  and  proverb  :  **  He 
who  arrives  first  at  the  yamen  [with  his  bribe  understood] 
wins  the  case."  The  spirit  of  the  suicide  hastens  ahead 
and  prefers  charges  to  a  judge  of  the  infernal  regions 
before   the  opponent  can  arrive.     On  the  other  hand, 


244  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

manifold  and  continuous  embarrassments  for  the  living 
victim  of  the  suicide  are  at  once  set  in  operation.  He  is 
often  looked  upon  as  a  murderer,  and  lives  the  loathed 
object  of  contumely.  Well  do  these  Christians  know,  in 
relation  to  their  own  family  :  "  To  you  is  granted  not 
only  to  believe  in  Christ,  but  also  to  suffer  in  His  behalf " 
(Phil.  1 :  29). 

The  tricks  and  devices  of  fellow-villagers  to  embarrass 
and  humiliate  and  torture  a  Christian  neighbour  are 
numberless.  A  man  is  refused  the  use  of  the  village 
well ;  and  many  a  tragedy  occurs  at  night  when  he 
attempts  to  steal  out  and  draw  water  from  the  old  place 
or  fetch  it  from  another.  Sometimes  he  is  not  allowed  to 
grind  at  the  mill  shared  by  several  families  on  the  street. 
It  is  crude  but  effective,  two-stoned  and  propelled  by 
donkey  or  daughter-in-law ;  and  it  is  a  serious  business 
to  get  bread  without  flour. 

For  unwillingness  to  conform  to  blasphemous  heathen 
customs,  companies  of  villagers  have  made  the  body  of 
many  a  Christian  neighbour  smart,  and  have  reduced 
him  to  penury.  He  refuses  to  burn  paper  in  worship  to 
his  ancestors,  and  he  is  despised  as  unfilial,  a  moral 
pariah.  Likewise  he  refuses  to  burn  spirit  money  to 
supply  ghosts  of  the  departed  with  good  food  and  warm 
clothes  for  winter,  and  he  is  contemned  as  a  niggard,  a 
miser,  dishonouring  them.  And  some  morning  he  awakes 
to  find  a  hole  dug  through  the  mud  wall  of  his  yard,  and 
his  donkey  pulled  through  it.  Search  is  useless.  Doubt- 
less it  has  been  butchered  and  sold  on  the  market.  Or 
he  wakes  up  in  the  night  to  find  his  yard  wall  pulled 
down  (and  no  one  can  well  get  along  without  his  wall) ; 
or  he  finds  his  meagre  stock  of  brushwood  (so  laboriously 
cut  and  gathered  and  carried  on  his  head  down  the  moun- 
tainside) stolen  ;  or  his  crops  lugged  off,  or  his  ox  driven 
away,  or  his  straw  burned. 


m 


SALT  AND  ITS  SAVOUR  246 

He  refuses  to  make  a  contribution  to  the  expenses  of 
the  debasing  peripatetic  theatre,  intimately  linked  with 
the  temple  and  its  abominations.  Its  local  appearance 
has  been  arranged  through  the  priest,  who  gets  a  rake-off 
for  his  pains.  The  use  of  his  tools  in  preparation  for  the 
spectacle  is  ostentatiously  demanded  by  his  heathen 
neighbours.  Such  a  test  case  having  in  one  instance  con- 
vinced the  villagers  of  the  acquired  perverseness  of  their 
neighbour,  they  seized  the  man  refusing  them,  an  intimate 
friend  of  mine,  bound  his  hands  and  hung  him  by  his 
arms  to  beams  on  the  theatre  platform  opposite  the  vil- 
lage temple;  and  there  they  made  him  a  gazing-stock 
and,  taunting,  said  :  "You  say  your  God  is  better  than 
our  gods  within !  Now  ask  Him  to  make  you  come 
down ! " 

On  the  consistent  and  repeated  refusal  of  two  brothers 
in  another  section  of  my  field  to  pay  that  theatre  tax, 
their  fellow- villagers  decided  between  themselves  (and 
carried  out  the  decision)  to  seize  and  divide  among 
themselves  fourteen  out  of  sixteen  shares  of  land  on  the 
mountainside  that  belonged  to  the  brothers.  On  their 
appeal  to  the  magistrate,  the  seizure  was  confirmed  as 
justified. 

In  cases  where  Christians  have  preached  to  fellow- vil- 
lagers they  have  suffered  many  kinds  of  violence.  One 
of  our  best  preachers  was  run  upon  by  a  gang  of  village 
bullies,  who  mauled  him  and  hauled  him  around  by  his 
queue,  and  pulled  out  some  of  his  hair.  Not  far  from 
that  village  two  Christians  were  selling  Gospels  and  tracts, 
as  the  law  allows,  when  the  head  village-elder  not  only 
imperiously  ordered  them  to  leave  but  kicked  part  of 
their  supply  into  the  dust  of  the  street,  had  the  boys 
throw  some  into  the  village  pond,  and  gave  away  the  re- 
mainder to  the  crowd  to  be  used  for  shoe-soles.  One  day 
I  was  scheduled  to  arrive  at  a  certain  village  ;  the  heathen 


246  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

there  knew  it,  and  in  order  to  humiliate  the  one  resident 
Christian  man  they  stole  his  barrow  with  which  he  was 
to  forward  my  stock  of  Bible  portions,  food  box  and  bed- 
ding. This  vehicle  for  a  peasant  of  North  China  is  a 
piece  of  property  of  considerable  value  and  quite  indis- 
pensable. It  never  was  found.  In  another  village,  an- 
other Christianas  saddle-mule,  when  it  became  known 
that  the  animal  was  rented  for  missionary  itineration, 
disappeared  in  like  mysterious  manner. 

How  often  have  I  received  from  harassed  Christians 
letters  of  this  tenor  :  **  When  our  village  learned  that  we 
had  planned  to  open  a  Christian  school  here,  they  seized 
five  acres  of  our  land  and  four  of  our  ponds. "  Or  this  : 
*' Village  roughs  found  out  that  my  son  was  carrying 
money  for  our  school-teacher,  and  they  attacked  him  on 
the  road,  stole  the  money  and  his  big  fur  coat  and  hat 
and  girdle,  and  beat  him  nearly  dead.'^  Or  this  :  ^'  I  re- 
fused to  profane  the  Sabbath  with  them  ;  and  on  my  re- 
turn from  the  field  last  night  they  had  broken  the  doors 
and  windows  of  my  house,  burned  my  goods  and  outraged 
my  wife.^^ 

In  one  village  a  company  of  men,  wild  with  New  Yearns 
excesses,  and  drunk  with  home-brewed  intoxicants,  went 
to  the  homes  of  the  three  Christians  of  the  village — hum- 
ble, inoffensive  men — seized  and  bound  them,  and  nearly 
ran  them  through  with  knives  in  vain  attempts  to  terrify 
them  out  of  their  confession. 

One  of  the  most  appalling  things  that  the  itinerating 
missionary  ever  sees  is  the  enactment  of  the  *'ma  kiei^' 
(the  reviling  of  the  street).  Usually  it  is  done  by  a 
woman  who,  habitually  cowed  and  dishonoured,  has  en- 
dured abuse  till  her  outraged  womanhood  rebels  and 
breaks  like  a  whelming  flood  against  a  dam.  Wild  and 
frenzied,  she  rushes  out  into  the  street,  there,  in  the 
presence  of  the  neighbours,  fast  gathering  for  the  specta- 


SALT  AND  ITS  SAVOUR  247 

cle,  to  relieve  her  mind  in  one  awful  typhoon  of  vitupera- 
tion ;  and,  because  heathenism  has  no  gods  worth  cursing 
by,  she  likens  the  object  of  her  wrath  to  all  the  lower 
owlers  of  creation,  big  and  little,  quadrupeds  and  vermin. 
With  her  locks  dishevelled,  and  tearing  her  clothes,  her 
arms  waving  in  frantic  energy,  and  beating  her  breast, 
she  reviles  all  the  ghosts  of  her  outrager's  ancestors  and 
all  his  posterity  to  the  nth  generation.  She  curses  every 
home  on  the  street,  up  one  side  and  down  the  other — 
until  she  falls  frothing,  often  a  physical  wreck  for  life,  or 
permanently  blind  as  a  result,  or  with  a  blood  vessel 
broken.  In  her  blind  fury  she  has  buried  the  village 
under  a  lava-stream  of  malediction  mountains  deep. 

I  arrived  late  one  Saturday  night  to  worship  over  Sab- 
bath with  the  only  real  Christian  of  that  village.  He  was 
a  fine  old  man  and  an  elder,  mellowed  by  sorrow  and 
trial.  A  cunning  scheme  was  worked  up  by  the  village 
to  humiliate  him  in  the  presence  of  ^*the  foreign  Shep- 
herd." Newly  dug  peanuts  were  sunning  on  the  thresh- 
ing-floor of  a  next-door  neighbour.  A  man  sauntered 
up  and  began  to  accuse  the  elder's  wife,  a  heathen  woman, 
of  stealing  several  peanuts  off  the  floor.  As  he  taunted 
and  vociferated,  accomplices  joined  him,  the  din  of  shout- 
ing and  recrimination  increased  in  fury,  until  the  young 
bucks  had  the  old  woman  wild  in  uncontrolled  and  un- 
controllable rage,  performing  *'ma  kiei''  (reviling  the 
street).  Her  raving  was  perfectly  awful  to  see  and  hear. 
Before  the  climax  of  the  spectacle  was  reached  the  whole 
village  apparently  had  assembled  ;  the  narrow  street  was 
jammed  with  an  excited  crowd,  gesticulating  and  noisily 
commenting  on  the  spectacle,  common  enough,  but  inter- 
esting now  because  of  the  foreigner.  And  as  she  collapsed 
from  sheer  exhaustion  and  a  broken  blood-vessel,  the  gang 
of  heartless  mischief-makers,  leering,  moved  nearer  her 
house  and  shouted  to  the  gray-bearded  elder  :  ^^  This  is 


248  CHINA  FKOM  WITHIN 

the  self-control  and  love  of  the '  er-kwei-tsi  gia^ !  '*  (second 
degree  devil's  family).  "  This  is  the  power  of  the  Jesus 
Doctrine  !  '^  But  the  power  of  it  they  never  knew.  They 
thought  he  was  a  coward,  afraid  to  come  out  and  become 
a  part  of  the  lava  flow  of  inflamed  vocal  filth.  But  inside 
he  was  on  his  knees,  and  pouring  out  his  soul  to  God, 
agouiziug  for  strength  to  love  them  and  show  them  a  good 
example. 

Many  members  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  China  are 
village  roughs  and  bullies  who  had  grudges  to  pay  ;  also 
lawsuit  promoters,  who  seek  power  and  prestige  before 
the  magistrate  in  pressing  cases  that  priests  of  the  Eoiiian 
hierarchy  are  willing  to  back  with  all  the  might  and 
energy  that  European  Governments  are  accustomed  to 
display  in  China  in  the  interests  of  their  nationals.  Many 
of  the  members  are  unregenerates  who,  appearing  for  ex- 
amination before  Protestant  missionaries,  were  recom- 
mended to  more  study ;  and,  in  pique  and  umbrage  at 
what  they  termed  "loss  of  face,"  in  not  being  received 
at  once  into  church  membership,  hastily  offered  them- 
selves to  the  priests  for  baptism.  I  have  examined  a 
number  who  did  not  know  who  Mary  is,  or  even  who  is 
Jesus.  But  such  were  speedily  baptized  by  the  priest 
and  entered  at  once  upon  interesting  careers  of  zeal  for 
the  Church  ;  only  their  zeal  took  the  form  of  maliciously 
harassing  and  tormenting  Protestant  Christians. 

Eepeatedly  with  clubs  they  have  broken  up  our  relig- 
ious services ;  once  with  guns,  one  of  which  was  acci- 
dentally discharged  by  a  rowdy  into  the  arm  of  a  pal, 
thereby  causing  the  gang  to  accuse  of  attempted  murder 
a  mild  and  innocent  worshipper  in  that  service.  Six 
months  he  was  confined  in  prison  before  the  truth  of  his 
innocence  leaked  out.  He  was  pitched  on  because  he 
was,  relatively  speaking,  well-to-do ;  and  the  yamen 
creatures  would  be  sure  of  blackmail  for  their  trouble. 


SALT  AND  ITS  SAVOUR  249 

Where  these  bogus  converts  have  dared  to  do  so  the  policy 
lias  been  to  terrorize  humble,  inoffensive  folk.  For  ex- 
ample, a  poor  woman  whose  husband  had  died,  and  who 
was  childless,  was  the  only  Protestant  Christian  in  a  vil- 
lage of  one  of  our  churches,  where  twenty  families  had 
suddenly  become  Catholics  in  order  to  push  a  lawsuit  suc- 
cessfully against  a  rival  clan.  They  threw  all  her  chick- 
ens into  her  well,  and  committed  a  series  of  like  outrages 
— petty  to  us,  but  great  to  her.  In  answer  to  her  request 
to  know  wherein  she  had  offended  them  they  wrote : 
**  Nothing,  but  we  want  you  to  know  that  we  are  *  li  hai ' 
(fierce),  and  you  had  better  clear  out ! "  She  did,  leaving 
her  small  property  to  her  spoilers.  In  another  village 
soon  after  visited  by  me,  a  gang  of  Catholics  had  sought 
to  drive  out  a  single  Protestant  family  there,  burning 
its  harvested  wheat  and  house,  and  lighting  fires  under 
its  plow-ox. 

The  magistrate  in  a  county  near  Tsingtau  was  in  bond- 
age of  fear  to  foreign  priests  there.  He  did  whatever 
they  demanded.  They  entered  upon  a  systematic  plan, 
not  unknown  to  some  Governments  in  these  **  enlight- 
ened ^ '  days,  to  use  this  ofi&cial  and  their  own  rowdies  in 
order  to  frighten  our  Christians  into  recanting  and  join- 
ing their  ranks,  or  else  move  out  of  certain  desirable  vil- 
lages, in  which  our  Christians  had  for  some  years  been 
settled  and  thriving  as  a  Church,  before  the  Catholics 
appeared.  Our  services  were  repeatedly  broken  up,  the 
leaders  carried  off  to  the  yamen  where  they  were  impris- 
oned and  bambooed  and  otherwise  repeatedly  tortured 
by  the  yamen  henchmen  for  blackmail. 

Well  do  these  Christians  know  that  in  relation  to  their 
neighbours  it  is  often  only  through  tribulation  they  enter 
into  the  Kingdom  of  God.  They  endure,  and  without 
repining.  Take  the  case  of  Han  Wu,  cited  by  a  mis- 
sionary friend.    Waylaid    outside   the  village    by  his 


250  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

heathen  neighbours,  he  was  beaten  until  insensible  and 
left  there  to  die.  Kind  Christian  friends,  hearing  of  the 
outrage,  gathered  him  up,  and  as  they  were  tenderly  lay- 
ing him  down  on  his  brick  bed,  one  of  them  asked : 
^^  Are  you  suffering  much.  Brother  Han  ?  ''  Faintly  came 
the  response :  "  Nothing  like  my  Lord  suffered  for  me.^^ 

For  many  years  the  officials  have  been  powerful  and 
fierce  enemies  of  Christianity  in  China.  To  the  national 
antipathy  towards  a  strange  religion  coming  in  to  usurp 
the  place  of  the  old  has  been  added  some  things  of  which 
they  knew  more  fully  than  the  people — foreign  aggres- 
sions, the  forcing  of  leases  and  concessions  by  Govern- 
ments, and  the  political  indiscretions  of  the  Eoman  Cath- 
olic priests.  They  have  usually  felt  that,  in  the  language 
of  one  official,  '*  Christians  are  rough  necks,  who  need 
shaving  with  the  heavy  razor  '^  (that  is,  the  headsman's 
sword).  Even  Li  Hung  Chang  could  once  say :  "  I  hated 
the  foreign  religion  more  violently  than  all  other  scourges 
in  the  world ;  and  I  prayed  and  hoped  that  not  alone 
would  the  Taipings  be  destroyed,  but  that  earthquakes, 
eruptions  of  mountains,  and  terrible  fevers  would  make 
the  Christian  nations  without  a  man,  a  woman,  or  a 
child.''  A  great  Viceroy  wrote :  "  Christians  are  rats  of 
disease  caught  from  the  leprous  missionaries  of  Canton, 
and  they  would  run  into  all  the  holes  of  the  centre  and 
north,  and  spread  their  vile  malady.  The  lingering 
death  of  one  thousand  slices  should  be  applied  to  all 
those  who  have  countenanced  this  foreign  doctrine.  If 
my  own  arms  were  not  so  lame  during  this  season  from 
rheumatism  and  other  ailments  of  the  blood,  nothing 
could  please  me  better  than  to  take  a  place  as  executioner 
of  the  vermin." 

Apart  from  the  fact  that  Christianity  was  for  them  a 
trouble  breeder,  it  has  seemed  utterly  absurd  to  the  Con- 
fucian Literati  and  officials  of  China.     *'  Christ  crucified, 


SALT  AND  ITS  SAVOUR  251 

to  Jews,  stumbling-block  ;  to  Gentiles,  foolishness."  As 
Li  Hung  Chang  put  it :  ^^  It  is  a  part  of  the  Christians* 
teaching  that  their  Heaven  Father  let  His  Son  come  to 
earth  and  die  for  wicked  people.  Such  teaching  !  If 
they  would  say  that  He  came  and  died  for  the  good 
people,  it  would  sound  sensible,  even  if  the  rest  of  their 
doctrines  are  too  absurd  for  a  man  with  brains  to  give  a 
serious  thought  to.  If  the  gods  are  good  and  want  men 
to  be  good,  will  they  allow  members  of  their  families  to 
be  killed  like  criminals  for  the  sake  of  criminals  ?  It  has 
been  long  intimated  that  most  of  these  foreign  devils  are 
crazy,  and  I  am  beginning  to  believe  it.  But  it  is  strange 
that  they  should  be  able  to  draw  any  of  our  people  away 
from  the  old  religion  and  old  philosophy.  I  cannot 
understand  how  it  is,  but  I  am  sure  this  crazy  fad  will 
die  out.'*  The  ofificials  have  had  numberless  methods 
and  opportunities  to  try  in  the  dark,  and  without  fear 
of  exposure,  to  make  it  **die  out."  The  authority  of 
each  magistrate  in  his  district  is  practically  absolute; 
and  few  Christians  who  might  be  brought  before  him 
would  think  oi  being  so  rash  as  to  oppose  his  will. 

Often  the  persecution  by  fellow- villagers  is  intimately 
bound  up  with  that  by  officials,  because  the  latter  can  so 
powerfully  abet  and  crushingly  complete  (if  they  be  so 
minded)  what  neighbours  have  begun.  For  instance,  in 
the  case  of  refusal  on  the  part  of  one  of  our  Christians 
to  pay  a  share  or  subscription  towards  a  temple  show — a 
subscription  exorbitant  and  arbitrarily  assessed  him,  but 
which  he  would  have  repudiated  even  had  it  been  smaller 
— the  village  elders  sued  him  on  the  charge  of  impiety 
and  sacrilege  before  the  magistrate,  who  made  him  pay 
heavily,  and  had  his  feet  bambooed  for  good  measure. 

These  unfair  discriminations  extend  from  the  most 
trivial  affairs  to  the  most  serious.  The  young  son  of  one 
of  our  Christians  cut  grass  over  the  boundary  line  of  his 


252  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

neighbour's  patch — by  accident,  he  claimed.  The  regu- 
lar fine  for  such  transgressing  was  five  tiao,  but  the  village 
elders  fined  him  ten.  Immediately  after  two  heathen 
were  caught  in  the  same  misdemeanour  and  they  were  not 
fined  at  all.  In  one  village,  a  heathen  stole  twenty-five 
tiao  from  a  Christian.  The  amount  of  money,  the  time 
and  the  place  and  culprit  were  all  known  to  the  official ', 
but  because  the  robbed  was  a  Christian,  the  magistrate 
would  do  nothing  for  him.  In  another  village  we  had  two 
families  wretchedly  poor,  whose  men  needed  all  their 
time  to  earn  food.  The  roads  were  kept  up  well  there, 
because  in  German  territory.  The  Chinese  road-master 
so  allotted  the  work  as  to  make  the  heads  of  these  pov- 
erty-stricken families  work  on  the  roads,  each  man  more 
than  six  months.  By  an  equitable  arrangement  their 
share  of  road-tax,  worked  out  in  time,  would  have  been 
a  couple  of  weeks.  They  were  made  to  do  the  portion  of 
several  heathen  families — who  escaped  with  no  service 
and  were  not  required  to  pay  for  substitutes.  In  a  cer- 
tain village  some  of  our  members  started  a  Christian 
school ;  the  magistrate  himself  would  not  start  an  official 
school  in  that  place,  yet  fined  and  punished  them  because 
they  started  a  better  one  than  his  would  have  been. 

More  serious  cases  are  frequently  told.  Eoughs  of  a 
certain  village  organized  themselves  into  a  '^Hei  Yie 
Hui''  (Black  Night  Society).  Disfiguring  and  breaking 
the  smaller  idols  of  the  village  temple,  they  strewed 
them,  armless  and  headless,  around  the  temple  yard; 
also  threw  the  larger  ones  on  their  noses  in  the  dirt. 
They  then  went  to  the  county  official  and  accused  a 
fellow-villager,  a  Christian,  of  being  guilty  of  the  sacri- 
lege. Whereupon  the  Christian  who — mark  it — was  well- 
to-do,  was  ordered  to  pay  all  costs  of  the  lawsuit,  and  a 
fine  of  five  hundred  tiao  (which  went  into  the  mandarin's 
pocket).     He  was  also  ordered  to  repair  the  temple,  and 


SALT  AND  ITS  SAVOUR  253 

bear  tlie  expenses  of  village  theatricals  (that  is,  of  briug- 
iug  a  troop  of  travelling  players),  thus  adding  insult  to 
injury. 

This  sort  of  procedure  is  called  by  the  Christians 
^* coughing  up  the  squeeze,'^  also  **  rubbing  in  the  salt,' ^ 
the  latter  characterization  in  reference  to  an  ancient 
custom,  still  extant  in  the  yamen,  of  not  only  bambooing 
an  innocent  man  till  he  pays  blackmail,  but  in  addition 
rubbing  salt  into  the  raw  and  lacerated  flesh. 

Incidentally  the  officials  understand  perfectly  their 
legal  right  to  deal  with  Chinese  subjects  as  they  please, 
which  right  they  usually  exercise  like  despots,  and  from 
their  decision  there  is  little  hope  of  successful  appeal. 
Since  the  establishment  of  the  Republic  the  Chinese  are 
instructed  no  longer  to  "ka  tou '^  before  a  magistrate 
(that  is,  knock  the  forehead  three  times  on  the  ground  to 
him).  But  what  frequently  happens  may  be  known  from 
the  following. 

On  the  27th  of  October,  1913,  one  of  our  Christians  was 
hauled  on  a  false  charge  before  a  county  official,  who 
ordered  him  to  *•  ka  tou."  He  refused.  And  as  he  stood 
and  bowed,  he  said:  ^'I  prostrate  myself  only  to  Jesus 
Christ,  my  heavenly  Master  ! ''  For  his  temerity  he  was 
imprisoned  and  bambooed  four  hundred  strokes  till  his 
flesh  was  pulp.  Also  the  magistrates  can  now  with  better 
face  than  formerly  resent  interference  from  foreigners. 
Such  interference  often  results  in  more  pressure  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  persecuted  one  and  those  close  to  him. 
Realizing  the  unwisdom  of  meddling  in  yamen  processes, 
the  policy  long  ago  adopted  by  Protestant  missionaries — 
hard  as  it  has  sometimes  seemed  to  the  Christians — has 
been  that  of  concentrating  their  efforts  on  praying  with 
and  for  the  unfortunates,  and  on  instructing  them  in  the 
Scripture  attitude,  and  in  exhorting  them  to  endure 
hardness  as  good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ. 


254:  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

Duriug  the  Revolution  the  situation  in  Shantung  Prov- 
ince was  peculiar.  Fourteen  or  fifteen  of  the  Provinces 
to  the  south  were  practically  solid  for  the  Eepublic. 
Shantung  Province  and  those  to  the  northward  were 
filled  with  Yuan  Shi  Kai's  German -trained  Manchu  Reg- 
ulars and  other  troops  loyal  to  him.  Not  only  was  there 
little  chance  for  the  Republicans  to  gain  much  foothold 
in  Shantung,  but  the  Manchu  troops  in  small  bands  in- 
fested the  countrysides,  dominating  the  villages  and 
market  towns.  The  soldiers,  in  these  small  bands,  re- 
moved from  the  eyes  of  their  superiors,  raided  and  looted, 
and  burned,  and  raped,  without  let  or  hindrance.  And 
the  Christians  were  often  the  especial  objects  of  their 
rapacious  brutality.  They  suffered  in  silence,  as  there 
was  no  way  to  make  their  voice  heard  even  had  the 
authorities  been  williug  to  listen  to  such  *^  trivial"  mat- 
ters. 

A  certain  ^*  general  '^  with  his  troops  was  quartered  in 
one  of  the  walled  cities  of  our  field.  I  visited  him  and 
politely  called  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  even  our 
young  schoolboys,  assuredly  innocent  of  crime,  were,  at 
that  moment,  contrary  to  a  proclamation  guaranteeing 
religious  liberty,  manacled  in  a  low,  filthy  den  inside  the 
yamen.  He  smiled  incredulity.  I  knew  they  were  there, 
for  I  had  earlier  visited  them  in  their  prison.  Some  of 
their  mothers  were  nearly  distracted  with  grief,  sick  from 
fear  for  their  boys.  His  reply  was :  *'  We  are  after  only 
the  Hu  fei^  (robbers)!"  And  all  outrages,  purposely 
and  definitely  committed  against  Christians,  as  Chris- 
tians, were  explained  away  on  that  ground. 

One  of  our  country  leaders  was  known  to  have  money. 
He  with  his  aged  parents  was  taken  before  a  military 
official,  and  made  to  face  this  terrific  ordeal:  the  par- 
ents were  threatened  with  death  unless  he  recanted. 
Chinese  heathen  opinion  would  expect  him  to  renounce 


SALT  AND  ITS  SAVOUR  255 

any  profession  lie  had  ever  made,  as  the  condition  of 
shielding  them,  on  pain  of  being  looked  upon  as  their 
murderer.  "What  would  you  have  done  ?  The  man  said 
he  remembered:  **The  servant  is  not  greater  than  his 
Lord.  If  they  have  persecuted  me,  they  will  also  perse- 
cute you."  He  prayed  j  and  money — not  recanting — 
purchased  relief. 

It  was  a  sight  during  those  days  in  East  Shantung  to 
see  Christians  brought  into  and  through  a  town  tied  to 
the  tails  of  horses  ;  to  see  a  band  of  troopers  dash  up  to 
a  railway  station,  and  on  signal  enter  the  train  and  haul 
out  a  man  and  execute  him  on  the  spot ;  to  see  headless 
trunks  hanging  outside  city  gates,  and  the  heads  in  the 
moats  nosed  around  by  starving  curs.  The  same  kind  of 
men  scourged  our  Lord  and  mocked  Him  on  the  Cross 
and  parted  His  vestments. 

The  killing  of  native  Christians  was  much  hushed  up  ; 
but  in  December,  1913,  several  provincial  Governments 
proposed  to  make  inquiries  into  cases  where  Christians 
had  been  killed  during  the  Revolution,  ''with  the  in- 
tention"— mark  it — ''to  compensate  relatives  of  those 
who  were  killed  owing  to  their  adoption  of  Christianity." 

Those  who  read  the  vernacular  papers  in  China,  or  are 
in  touch  with  the  foreign  journals,  cannot  fail  to  be  im- 
pressed with  the  condition  of  chronic  anarchy  and  terror- 
ism due  to  organized  bands  of  bandits  that  obtains  ex- 
tensively in  some  section  or  another  all  the  time  in 
China.  The  names  of  many  of  these  societies  and  bands 
are  significant — names  like  "Black  Tiger  Society"  or 
"Strong  Ox  Society,"  suggesting  their  object  as  being  to 
oppose  Western  learning  and  new  methods  (which  are 
rendering  the  Classics,  their  use  and  teachings,  obsolete) 
and  to  oppose  Christianity.  To  this  end  they  make  a 
specialty  of  harrying  and  persecuting  Christians.  Many 
a  countryside  has  during  the  last  year  been  terrorized  by 


256  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

such  proclamations  as  the  following,  posted  June  24, 1913. 
It  sounds  like  a  second  cousin  to  the  Ku-Klux  Klan  or 
the  Black  Hand. 

^^  Black  Tiger  Faithful  Righteousness  Society y  Proc- 
lamation of  Ng 

"  Because  of  the  Government's  persecution  of  the  people 
this  society  has  twice  during  the  last  year  fought  agaiust 
Sienyu  and  has  won,  but  there  is  a  class  of  people  who 
are  destroying  the  idols  and  the  ancestors  and  therefore 
in  constant  opposition  to  our  society.  Our  society  has 
now  collected  a  large  number  of  men  and  will  first  des- 
troy this  class  of  people  and  then  will  cross  swords  with 
the  Government. 

**Be  it  known  to  all  people  in  this  region,  that  if  I 
make  a  night  attack  anywhere,  and  you  separate  your- 
selves from  this  class  of  people,  you  will  escape  all  in- 
jury. Stand  aside  and  watch.  If  you  do  not  do  this,  it 
will  be  difQcult  to  distinguish  one  from  other,  and  all 
will  be  destroyed.  I  therefore  issue  this  proclamation 
that  all  may  know. 

**  Proclamation  issued  this  day  of  the  5th  month  of  the 
5th  year  of  Hsuan  Tung." 

There  is  no  doubt  whom  he  has  in  mind  when  he 
refers  to  "a  class  of  people  who  are  destroying  the 
idols,"  etc.  This  bandit  leader  does  not  mean  that  the 
Christians  are  literally  going  about  breaking  up  idols, 
for  they  have  not  done  that.  He  means  that  the  doc- 
trines preached  by  them  are  breaking  down  faith  in  the 
idols  and  in  ancestor  worship.  This  proclamation  is 
illustrative  of  the  present  program  of  many  rebel  socie- 
ties. 

There  seems  everywhere  to  be  understandings  between 
brigands  and  soldiers ;  for  repeatedly,  when  soldiers  have 
returned  from  harmlessly  raiding  these  lawless  bands, 
the  robbers  have  come  out  of  their  retreat  and  made  a 
specialty  of  attacking  Christians.     Many  cases  could  be 


SALT  AND  ITS  SAVOUR  257 

cited  from  the  recent  depreciations  of  the  bands  of  White 
^yolf,  ranging  through  several  Provinces.  On  this  subject 
there  is  an  embarrassing  riches  of  illustration.  Take  this : 
"  On  one  occasion  the  rebels,  who  were  in  hiding  not  far 
away,  seeing  the  soldiers  leaving,  came  out  and  began  to 
attack  the  Christians.  They  seized  two  women  and  a 
child.  They  also  caught  and  severely  beat  a  man.  The 
home  of  these  four  persons  was  robbed  and  the  crops  in 
their  fields  and  orchards  were  entirely  destroyed.  The 
two  women  and  the  child  succeeded  in  escaping  from 
their  captors  and  reached  safety.  A  few  days  later  the 
homes  of  seven  men  who  are  members  of  the  church  were 
also  raided  and  plundered  of  all  that  they  possessed. 
Their  orchards,  fields,  and  gardens  were  destroyed,  they 
themselves  with  their  families  barely  escaping."  In 
other  places,  the  robbers  not  only  took  all  the  supplies 
of  the  Christians,  live  stock  and  grain,  and  not  only 
killed  women  and  children,  but  took  Christian  men,  and 
put  them  in  the  front  line  of  fights  to  draw  the  fire  of 
soldiers ;  if  these  conscripted,  unwilling  fighters  tried  to 
flee,  they  were  shot  by  their  captors.  These  men  would 
rather  release  Barabbas  than  a  Christian. 

It  does  not  sound  so  terrible  when  these  cases  of  perse- 
cution in  many  villages  are  taken  in  the  mass,  as  it  does 
to  look  at  a  particular  concrete  instance.  Here  is  one  in 
these  piping  times  of  peace  in  China.  One  might  sup- 
pose it  occurred  during  1900.  It  sounds  as  if  it  came  out 
of  the  Neronian  persecution. 

One  night  a  gang  broke  over  the  wall  of  this  particular 
Christian's  yard,  stormed  the  door  of  his  hut,  seized  him 
and  his  wife,  tied  hands  and  wrists,  and,  stringing  them 
on  poles,  carried  them  to  the  village  temple,  dropped 
them  on  the  floor  and  gave  them  permission  ^to  recant. 
A  cross  was  drawn  in  the  dirt  and  they  were  ordered  to 
spit  on  it.     Refusing,  they  were  taken  to  the  bank  of  the 


258  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

precipitous  village  poud  and  given  one  more  chance  to 
recant.  For  answer  they  began  to  sing:  **My  Jesus,  I 
love  Thee,  I  know  Thou  art  mine  !  "  *'Pei !  "  shouted 
the  leader.  That  word  gathers  into  itself  all  that  the 
user  can  conceive  of  disdain,  contempt,  impatience, 
anger  and  hate — hurling  it  as  a  bomb  of  malediction 
against  the  person  for  whom  it  is  designed.  *  *  Push  them 
in  ! "  he  shouted.  With  ankles  bound  and  bleeding,  they, 
helpless,  rolled  down  and  in,  under  the  water, — for  the 
sake  of  The  Name. 

But  there  is  a  persecution  that  in  extent  and  sustained 
intensity  exceeds  all  the  foregoing  :  It  is  the  hidden 
horror  of  heathenism.  It  is  called  by  the  Christians 
**  Burying  alive."  It  refers  to  the  immurement  of  Chris- 
tian daughters-in-law  in  the  families  of  heathen  mothers- 
in-law. 

A  baby  girl,  while  her  parents  were  yet  heathen,  has 
been  betrothed  into  a  heathen  family.  In  the  course  of 
time  her  parents  become  Christians  ;  she  is  given  a  school 
education,  and  grows  up,  trained  and  winsome,  with  the 
laudable  ambition  to  make  her  own  home  a  real  Christian 
home.  But  her  parents  dare  not  break  the  contract,  and 
she  is  tied  for  life  to  a  peasant  boor — uneducated,  un- 
sympathetic, coarse  and  brutal.  He  has  never  seen  her, 
possibly  is  considerably  younger,  perhaps  at  marriage  is 
still  a  boy.  It  is  a  living  death — the  steady,  relentless 
pressure,  glacier-like,  of  nagging  and  contumely.  The 
young  wife  is  supposed  to  have  swallo\<^ed  a  "magic 
Jesus-Doctrine  pill,"  and  the  only  way  to  get  it  out  is 
to  pound  it  out.  This  the  family  set  themselves,  through 
drudgery,  abuse  and  violence,  to  do.  Often  all  the  mem- 
bers have  a  hand  in  the  process,  even  the  younger  female 
relatives. 

A  woman,  converted  in  one  of  the  meetings  I  was  con- 
ducting, confessed  there  with  agonized  weeping  that  for 


SALT  AND  ITS  SAVOUR  259 

ten  years  slie  had  made  life  as  nearly  unendurable  as 
possible  for  her  oldest  sister-iu-law,  who  was  one  of  our 
best  Bible  women.  A  charming  young  woman  in  one  of 
our  churches, — an  unusually  good  teacher  she  was, — on 
her  marriage,  was  repeatedly  threatened  by  her  husband. 
Daily  brandishing  a  knife  before  her,  he  daily  vowed  that 
he  would  cut  out  her  heart  if  she  did  not  recant.  Finally, 
because  of  her  inflexible  determination,  he  divorced  her — 
an  unspeakably  disgraceful  and  helpless  condition  for  a 
woman  in  China.  Another  girl  in  nobility  of  spirit 
silently  endured  the  curses  and  scorn  of  her  adopted 
family.  She  came  at  night,  when  her  father-in-law 
would  not  know  it,  to  be  strengthened  by  her  lady  mis- 
sionary friend  in  her  purpose  to  serve  Christ.  And  at 
the  end  of  the  fifth  year  she  was  still  holding  out  against 
the  most  violent  opposition  and  persecution.  When 
asked  the  secret  of  her  strength  she  quoted  God's  promise 
to  Joshua  :  ^^  I  will  be  with  thee ;  I  will  not  fail  thee  !  " 
Humanly  speaking,  it  would  seem  as  if  the  lamp  of  faith 
of  these  girls— unbefriended,  abused,  hated, — could  only 
feebly  flicker,  to  be  ultimately  snuffed  out.  Few  other 
situations  so  remind  one  of  a  doomed  man,  caught  in 
quicksand  and  inexorably  sucked  down,  slowly  sinking 
out  of  sight — and  yet  these  rarely  go  under. 

On  one  of  my  recent  country  trips  I  made  a  dtour  to 
go  up  a  lonely  mountain  valley,  in  order  to  see  a  woman 
who  was  baptized  before  I  went  to  China.  Never  since 
that  baptismal  Communion  had  she  been  allowed  to  meet 
with  Christians.  Now  she  had  somehow  got  through  to 
us  a  request  to  come.  Her  mother-in-law  had  with  special 
viciousness  abused  and  tormented  her.  And  just  before 
our  arrival,  in  rage  at  her  desire  for  a  Christian  service, 
the  husband  had  beaten  her  with  particular  severity. 
She  longed  for  the  Communion,  and  on  her  kang  partook 
of  it.    Later  she  died.     She  had  endured  as  seeing  Him 


260  CHINA  FKOM  WITHIN 

who  is  invisible.  And  as  her  soul  took  its  flight,  she 
murmured  the  words  long  before  taught  her,  and  to  her 
unspeakably  precious :  **  To  him  that  hath  no  might  He 
increaseth  strength.  '^ 

These  are  some  of  the  daily  tragedies  among  unknown, 
humble,  Chinese  folk  in  witnessing  for  Christ,  whom 
having  not  seen  they  love. 

Many  illustrations  of  the  saving  savour  of  the  salt 
could  be  givea  from  the  lives  of  Chinese  of  world-wide 
reputation,  notable  for  unusual  achievements  as  men  and 
as  Christians.  But  I  have  chosen  to  speak  of  the  common 
folks,  out  of  the  mud  villages — unknown  to  fame  and  with 
no  way  to  reach  the  public  ear  ;  and  for  the  reason  of  the 
marked  effect  that  their  witness  makes  upon  those  around 
them.  Even  the  officials,  though  persecuting,  are  favour- 
ably impressed.  We  know  of  schoolboys  who,  alone  out 
of  many  schools  in  their  city,  when  parading  and  ordered 
to  enter  the  temple  of  Confucius  and,  alone  with  their 
Government  school-fellows,  worship  the  image  of  the 
Sage,  refused  to  obey  the  magistrate's  command.  They 
expected  to  be  bambooed  for  their  courage.  Instead 
they  were  presented  by  the  magistrate  whom  they  defied 
with  a  silken  banner  in  tribute  to  their  courageous  ad- 
herence to  convictions. 

We  have  had  Christians  outraged,  through  the  designs 
of  wicked  men,  and  humiliated  before  their  neighbours  ; 
yet  through  prayer  receiving  justice  in  a  marvellous  way 
from  the  officials.  Mordecai-like,  power  unexpectedly 
has  swung  their  way,  and  then  they  have  pleaded  for 
mercy  for  rascal  persecutors, — for  the  remission  of  their 
fines,  and  the  lightening  of  their  punishment ;  and  their 
attitude  of  Christian  charity  has  opened  up  villages  and 
market  towns  to  the  Gospel. 

To  endure  persecution  for  righteousness'  sake  and  to 
reward  good  for  evil  is,  as  a  principle  and  as  a  phenome- 


SALT  AND  ITS  SAVOUR  261 

non,  strange  to  heathenism.  And  while  the  heathen  ut- 
terly fail  to  understand  the  reason  for  this  attitude,  they 
yet  respect  it.  It  was  this  attitude  that,  during  Boxer 
days,  caused  tormentors  to  cut  out  the  hearts  of  martyrs 
in  order  to  look  for  the  secret  of  martyr-courage.  It  is 
that  which  to-day  has  caused  officials  to  say  to  our  Chris- 
tians :  **  We  know  no  Gods  who  are  worth  suffering  for !  " 
"Ah,^*  but  our  Christians  have  answered,  "we  know 
One  for  whom  we  would  gladly  die  !  " 

Because  of  the  gulf  fixed  between  Christianity  and 
heathenism,  and  of  the  apparent  impossibility  of  a  man 
escaping  from  the  down-drag  of  his  hateful  surroundings, 
it  is  wonderful  to  see  a  soul  break  through  the  environ- 
ment that  coffins  it,  and  become  a  new  creation  in  Christ. 
But  there  is  another  miraculous  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in 
a  man  equally  wonderful  to  see ;  and  that  is  the  making 
of  his  soul  to  bourgeon  out  in  richness  of  life  in  Christ, 
and  the  taking  on  of-— rather,  the  growing  into — the 
graces  of  the  Spirit,  through  trial  and  persecution. 

One  member  of  my  parish,  of  unusually  keen  mind, 
was,  before  conversion,  a  gambler  and  medicine  fakir 
— the  latter  just  because  he  had  what  is  called,  in  Chi- 
nese as  well  as  in  English,  "  the  gift  of  gab.'*  He  had  a 
marvellous  faculty  of  persuading  people  to  buy  his  wares, 
and  had  talked  down  many  a  turbulent  crowd  at  many  a 
heathen  fair  and  festival.  He  was  the  youngest  of  three 
brothers,  and  the  whole  of  his  clan  and  village  were 
against  him.  But  his  intensity  of  conviction,  his  strong 
crying  to  God  with  tears,  arrayed  his  family,  one  by  one, 
on  the  side  of  the  Lord.  I  received  them  all  into  the 
church  except  his  second  brother,  a  man  of  strong  per- 
sonality who  used  such  physical  violence  on  the  family, 
because  of  their  forsaking  the  old  ways,  that  all  were  in 
terror  of  him.  With  them  I  worshipped  repeatedly  in  a 
donkey  and  ox  stable.     Blinded  with  rage  against  the 


262  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

Jesus  Doctrine,  this  man  had  vowed  that  if  they  dared 
meet  for  worship  in  the  house  he  would  kill  them.  At 
last  I  baptized  that  ^4i  hai ''  (fierce)  brother,  subdued  of 
the  Spirit.  I  also  had  the  joy  of  seeing  the  day  when  the 
villagers  welcomed  me  gladly  ;  when  they  turned  over 
the  village  temple  to  us  for  a  Christian  school.  But  the 
joy  was  to  see  the  development  of  that  young  Cornelius. 
He  had  learned  a  truth  that  had  transformed  a  life  :  "If 
ye  ask  anything  according  to  His  will.  He  heareth." 

I  have  in  mind  a  young  mountain- village  elder,  timid, 
unlearned  in  books,  lacking  initiative,  and  fearful  of  the 
opinion  of  others.  Incidentally,  he  was  the  only  Chris- 
tian of  his  clan  j  incidentally,  his  prayers  prevailed  over 
their  persecution,  winning  some  forty  of  them  to  the 
Gospel  5  incidentally,  though  desperately  poor,  as  verita- 
ble serfs  of  the  priests  whose  pine  branches  on  their 
mountain  property  these  peasants  gathered  for  the  merest 
pittance,  they  built  a  church  and  had  their  own  school. 
But  the  point  is  his  own  wonderful  development  in  Christ. 
In  the  teeth  of  appalling  opposition  and  discouragement, 
this  man  made  a  series  of  decisions  that  for  moral  hero- 
ism puts  him  in  the  company  of  God's  choice  spirits. 
They  culminated  in  his  taking  his  life  in  his  hand  to 
discipline  members  of  his  church  who,  under  horrible 
circumstances,  had  had  a  criminal  part  in  the  murder  of 
a  fellow-member.  And  in  four  short  years  he  has,  by  a 
Joshua-like  fidelity  to  God,  become  one  of  the  pillars  of 
the  Church  throughout  all  our  region. 

One  characteristic  of  the  Chinese,  that  is  to  say,  adapta- 
bility, has  been  much  lauded.  But  perhaps  this  is  only 
one  phase  of  their  supreme  trait,  the  power  to  persist. 
And  when  they  function  religiously,  one  is  sure  to  see 
this  same  trait  crop  out,  despite  the  fact  that  in  the 
East,  and  particularly  in  China,  the  clan  quite  overshad- 
ows the  individual     The  real  Chinese  Christian  hangs  on 


SALT  AKD  ITS  SAVOUR  263 

amid  the  most  discouragiug  circumstauces — alone.  He  is 
spiritual  kiu  of  Noah,  who  built  aud  voyaged  alone; 
of  Abraham,  who  wandered  and  worshipped  alone ;  of 
Daniel,  who  dined  and  prayed  alone;  of  Elijah,  who 
prophesied  and  wept  alone ;  of  Jesus,  who  loved  and 
died  alone.  It  is  this  power  to  endure — this  steadfast- 
ness in  the  Faith — that  is  so  powerful  a  factor  in  winning 
the  converts  in  China. 

How  this  works  out  is  well  illustrated  in  the  case  of 
one  of  the  Christian  women  of  our  country  field.  A 
young  Christian  bride,  she  was  immured  in  a  heathen 
family.  Her  husband  soon  informed  her  that  he  was 
going  to  whip  her  once  a  week  till  she  renounced  **  for- 
eign doctrines.''  Each  week  as  he  lashed  her  she  wept 
for  pain,  and  prayed  in  an  agony  of  spirit  for  him.  At 
the  end  of  two  years  he  approached  her,  to  inflict  the 
weekly  beating,  and  in  a  terrible  voice  announced  :  ^*Now 
this  time,  if  you  don't  recant,  I'm  going  to  kill  you!" 
With  ferocity  he  rained  the  blows ;  then  suddenly — 
threw  down  his  whip,  and  laughed — a  strange,  hard 
laugh,  exclaiming:  "It's  no  use;  I've  been  trying  all 
these  weeks  to  make  you  *seug  ta  ki'  "  (literally,  "  beget 
a  great  anger"),  "just  as  the  other  women,  whom  I 
know,  do.  But  I  can't  make  you!"  And,  in  that  in- 
stant, the  Holy  Spirit,  honouring  her  faithful  witness 
and  real  prayer-life,  convicted  and  converted  him;  and 
he  and  his  wife,  helped  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  began  forth- 
with the  winning  of  their  clan  to  Jesus  Christ.  The 
source  of  her  endurance,  I  later  learned,  was  Psalm 
50 :  15,  repeated  and  prayed  many  times,  claimiug  the 
faithfulness  of  God  :  "I  will  deliver  thee  ;  and  thou  shalt 
glorify  me." 

The  Chinese  village  Christians  know  well  that  "through 
peril,  toil  and  pain  we  climb  the  steep  ascent  to  Heaven." 
And  they  also  know,  as  did  Raymond  Lull,  that  "he  who 


264:  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

loves  not,  lives  not ;  and  he  that  lives  by  The  Life  can- 
not die.'^  Therefore  they  do  not  hesitate  to  put  the  de- 
sirableness of  Christ  literally  before  father  or  mother  or 
wife  or  children  or  houses  or  lands ;  gladly  deuyiug  self, 
and  taking  up  the  Cross  daily,  and  following  Him. 

And  they  are  no  boasters.  Well  has  Dr.  W.  M.  Hayes 
spoken  the  feeling  and  conviction  of  many  a  veteran  mis- 
sionary, when,  out  of  long  experience,  he  said  of  Chinese 
Christians,  such  as  these:  *' Humble  minded,  I  have 
never  yet  heard  one  who  endured  these  hardships  boast 
of  his  trials,  but  I  have  seen  the  tears  quietly  steal  down 
the  faces  of  strong  men  when  a  tale  of  persecution  has 
been  told  on  the  floor  of  Presbytery,  men  realizing  that 
they  themselves,  their  wives,  or  their  children  any  time 
might  be  called  on  to  endure  similar  trials.  When  I 
think  of  what  numbers  of  them  have  endured  and  of  the 
Christian  sanctity  of  some  of  our  Chinese  leaders,  un- 
worthy as  I  am,  I  can  only  pray  that 

"  *  Numbered  with  them  may  I  be, 
Here  and  in  eternity.*  " 


VIII 

«It  Shall  Not  Come  Nigh  Thee" 
A  Study  of  the  Power  of  Prayer 


YIII 
*'  IT  SHALL  NOT  COME  NIGH  THEE  " 

IN  a  glad  aud  busy  year  of  furlough  one  thing  dis- 
tressed me — hearing  ministers  deny  that  God  pow- 
erfully intervenes  in  behalf  of  His  people.  This 
lecture  on  the  Prayer  of  Faith  is  a  humble  testimony 
from  our  Station  Parish  to  the  fact  that  God  can  and 
does  hear  and  answer  the  prayers  of  those  who  are  His 
for  deliverance  in  crises. 

It  is  a  moving  spectacle,  the  spectacle  of  a  Christ- 
dominated  village  in  the  midst  of  a  sea  of  heathenism. 
Whoever  has  happened  upon  Petra,  to  the  east  of  Pales- 
tine, on  the  edge  of  the  Arabian  Desert,  that  city  of 
classic  beauty,  magnificent  in  its  ruins,  is  filled  with 
wonder  and  amazement.  The  sandy  wastes  about  it  only 
render  it  the  more  impressive.  It  is  with  some  such  sen- 
sation that  the  thoughtful  Christian  worker  from  the 
West,  who  knows  something  of  the  horrors  and  repul- 
siveness  of  the  heathenism  of  the  East,  views  the  heroic 
witness  of  a  few  Christian  families  and  the  miraculous 
experiences  that  happen  to  the  village  and  vicinity  domi- 
nated by  them,  as  the  result  of  that  witness.  Such  a 
clan  is  the  Ting  Clan,  and  such  a  village  is  their  village, 
Da  Hsiu  Tan  of  our  station.  The  heathen  cannot  account 
for  the  happenings  therein ;  and  to  them  that  village  is 
known  as  "  the  village  with  a  charmed  life."  The  fol- 
lowing narratives  reveal  the  mercy  of  God  for  the  sake 
of  the  righteous  few ;  His  hearing  their  prayer  in  crises 
for  the  welfare  of  themselves  and  of  the  many  unrepentant 
wicked  in  their  midst. 

267 


268  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

And  first,  the  story  of  a  holocaust  of  Christiaus— al 
most.     And  how  the  flames  were  quenched. 

I  had  walked  over  to  **  the  village  of  the  charmed  life" 
to  see  one  of  our  Christiaus  who  was  sick  there — a  young 
graduate  of  our  Union  Medical  School.  In  patriotic 
energy  he  had  nearly  blown  out  his  eyes  experimenting 
in  the  manufacture  of  bombs  to  use  against  the  "  Manchu 
Tyrants.'^  While  there  I  was  the  guest  of  his  uncle,  a 
dear  friend  of  mine,  the  leading  man  of  the  village^and 
elder  of  the  local  church.  Ting  Li  Sai,  the  head  of  the 
ting  Clan.  Through  his  efforts  and  example  many  of 
its  members  have  come  into  the  church.  Few  men  do  I 
love  or  honour  more.  He  is  a  fine  type  of  the  Chinese 
gentry;  elegant  in  dress,  grave  in  bearing,  but  with  a 
keen  sense  of  humour  j  his  face  and  life  gracious  and 
winsome.  He  has  the  urbanity  of  manner  and  gracious 
politeness  of  the  ideal  Chinese  gentleman,  along  with  the 
attainments  of  a  scholar  in  Western  learning.  After 
being  long  a  college  professor,  he  has  repeatedly  declined 
flattering  offers  of  Government  positions  of  honour  and 
relatively  high  salary,  in  order  to  devote  his  time  and 
energy,  without  pay,  to  organizing  and  managing  and 
teaching  in  our  Girls'  High  School  located  in  his  village. 

He  is  the  kind  of  man  in  whose  presence  beggars,  be- 
lieved to  be  demon -possessed,  who  rave  in  helplessness 
before  and  threaten  the  heathen  from  whom  they  ask 
bread,  at  once  calm  down,  saying  that  the  demons  in 
them  have  no  power  before  him  to  render  them  violent 
and  tear  them,  because  this  is  a  ''friend  of  the  Jesus 
God,"  in  whom  His  spirit  is  and  before  whom  the  devils 
torturing  them  quail. 

As  we  were  at  dinner  Elder  Ting  remarked  :  ''These 
revolutionary  times  are  not  as  dangerous  for  us  here  as 
were  the  Boxer  days."  And  he  added  with  a  humorous 
twinkle,  "You  see  the  German  troops  are  known  now. 


"IT  SHALL  NOT  COME  NIGH  THEE"   269 

lu  those  days  they  were  not."  This  put  him  in  remi- 
nisceut  mood,  and  over  our  bowls  and  chop-sticks  and  tea 
in  his  private  recei)tion  room  and  study  he  told  me  a  tale 
that  is  worthy  of  a  place  in  church  history. 

The  human  factors  of  that  miracle- story  were  an  old 
flint-lock  musket,  a  troop  of  German  soldiers,  Chinese 
Christians  doomed  to  a  fiery  furnace  by  infuriated  Boxers 
— and  prayer. 

Be  it  remembered  that  Elder  Ting's  village  is  heathen, 
but  his  own  clan  there  resident  is  Christian.  Though  its 
members  have  the  brains  and  education,  the  acres  and  the 
money,  the  push  and  the  grace,  they  are  but  a  handful. 
Perhaps  because  of  this  fact  they,  during  the  early  days 
of  the  Boxer  movement,  were  marked  by  mean  and  en- 
vious men  for  destruction.  There  was  no  other  village 
safer  than  their  own  to  which  they  could  flee,  as  every 
Christian  was  well  known,  and  all  the  countryside  was 
alive  with  Boxers.  Everybody,  apparently,  had  become 
either  a  '^Big-Knife  Society"  brave  on  the  war-path,  or 
an  active,  spying  sympathizer. 

Under  such  circumstances  it  seemed  necessary  to  the 
German  Government,  in  the  interest  of  law  and  order  in 
and  near  their  ^^Gebiet,"  to  send  out  a  punitive  expedi- 
tion into  the  surrounding  villages.  On  the  approach  of 
the  troops  to  this  place,  the  Boxer  warriors,  rendered 
fatuously  reckless  by  their  incantations  and  magic  aprons 
(which  were  supposed  to  render  them  bullet-proof), 
mounted  the  dilapidated  village  mud  wall  to  annihilate 
the  ^*  Black-bearded  Barbarians."  Their  weapons  of  of- 
fense were  bows  and  arrows,  spears  and  clubs  and  swords, 
and  some  primeval  muskets. 

When  but  a  few  rods  from  the  wall  the  German  captain, 
who  understood  some  Chinese,  heard  the  command  given 
to  fire.  Instantly  he  ordered  his  men  to  lie  flat  on  the 
ground    in   position    for  sharpshooting.     Just  as  they 


270  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

dropped,  the  venerable  guns  on  the  wall,  accompanied  by 
the  clatter  of  a  choice  miscellany  of  mediaeval  weapons, 
banged  harmlessly  at  them.  The  Boxers,  seeing  the  row 
of  soldiers  prone  and  motionless,  thought  their  foes  killed 
to  a  man.  With  the  temerity  of  *'  know  nothing,  fear 
nothing,"  they  forthwith  sprang  to  their  feet,  capering 
about  in  wild  jubilation  at  the  destruction  of  the  ''for- 
eign devils." 

It  was  one  of  those  errors  of  heathen  superstition— ir- 
remediable. Their  bodies,  silhouetted  against  the  sky, 
were  perfect  targets  for  a  much- practiced  soldiery.  Every 
form  that  appeared  above  the  parapet  fell  dead  or 
wounded.  Survivors  and  *'pals" — robbers  and  thieves 
all — were  captured  and  held  for  official  public  execution. 
And  the  heathen  were  disgraced  by  seeing  the  idols  in 
which  they  and  the  Boxer  defenders  trusted  hauled  out  of 
the  temple,  buried  in  the  temple  yard/  and  flung  into  the 
village  pond — "  face"  lost  beyond  recovery. 

But  that  was  the  beginning  of  trouble  for  the  Chris- 
tians. Boxer  avengers  sprang  up  like  armed  men  from 
Jason's  sowing.  The  secret  edict  went  forth  :  "The  sec- 
ond degree  devils  "  (the  heathen  designation  for  Chinese 
Christians,  the  missionaries  being  "first  degree")  "must 
all  die,  and  their  church  and  houses  be  burned  and  their 
land  divided  up."  So  one  black  night,  when  all  was  pre- 
pared, a  band  of  men  fit  for  black  deeds  crept  forth  to 
wreak  vengeance  upon  the  little  band  of  faithful  and  ap- 
parently doomed  followers  of  Him  whom  they  traduced 
in  posters,  representing  a  pig  on  a  cross. 

Suddenly  out  of  the  darkness  the  flames  of  the  burning 
house  of  God — the  largest  in  our  field  and  built  by  the 
Christians  themselves — began  to  creep  and  crackle  and 
curl  themselves  sliyward,  as  if  flaunting  defiance  to  the 
God  whom  they  ignorantly  hated.  The  Christians  hastily 
left  their  houses  and  fled  to  the  walled  yard  of  their  leader, 


"IT  SHALL  :N0T  COME  NIGH  THEE"   271 

iny  host,  Elder  Ting.  It  was  death  for  any  Christian  to 
appear,  and  they  knew  it.  So  they  all  gathered  together 
inside  the  flimsy  barred  gate  of  wood — and  prayed.  Out- 
side, in  the  lurid  glare  of  the  fire-crumbling  church,  fig- 
ures more  demoniac  than  human  danced  in  a  frenzy  of 
Satanic  glee.  Confident  that  the  innocent  victims  upon 
whom  they  expected  soon  to  wreak  their  vengeance  were 
inescapably  theirs,  one  gang  of  wretches  lingered  and 
gloated  over  the  charred  ruins.  Another,  like  a  band  of 
Apaches  surrounding  an  emigrant  wagon,  ringed  in  the 
devoted  company  ;  and,  having  howled  and  reviled  them 
to  their  heart's  content,  proceeded  to  business. 

At  a  given  signal  kerosene,  as  by  magic,  was  produced 
from  somewhere — there  were  not  lacking  fellow- villagers 
zealous  to  abet  the  raiders  from  outside — and  simul- 
taneously it  was  applied  before  each  Christian  door.  The 
doors  and  the  thatched  hoods  leading  into  each  yard  were 
as  dry  as  tinder.  And  what  a  pretty  blaze  the  houses  in- 
side would  make,  covered  as  they  were  with  sun- burned 
straw.  These  deserters  of  the  ancestral  deities,  these  fol- 
lowers of  the  hated  foreigners,  forsooth,  would  be  roasted 
in  their  homes  like  rats  in  a  hole  ! 

The  flames  had  begun  to  lick  the  door-lintels  when 
something  happened.  Indeed,  something  had  already 
happened.  There  was,  as  has  been  said,  no  sense  in  try- 
ing to  flee — the  country  was  alive  with  Boxers  on  the 
still -hunt  for  Christians,  immediate  producing  cause  of  the 
foreign  invasion,  as  the  Boxers  maliciously  asseverated  j 
neither  was  there  hope  in  armed  resistance.  So  the  be- 
lievers locked  inside  the  elder's  yard,  like  those  in  the 
fiery  furnace,  prayed — prayed  desperately.  Some  knew 
the  promise  of  God  through  Isaiah,  and  they  pleaded  it : 
'*  When  thou  walkest  through  the  fire,  thou  shalt  not  be 
burned,  neither  shall  the  flame  kindle  upon  thee  ;  for  I 
am  the  Lord  thy  God,  the  Holy  One,  thy  Saviour ! " 


272  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

As  they  prayed,  one  of  the  clan  felt  irresistibly  drawn 
to  take  down  and  fire  an  old-fashioned  weapon,  such  as 
the  better-to-do  keep  on  hand  for  shooting  into  the  air  as 
evening  approaches,  to  warn  thieves  that  a  gun  is  inside. 
What  overt  act  could  he  commit  to  put  them  in  more 
fearful  straits  ?  So  he  quickly  poked  the  muzzle  over  the 
wall.  Outside,  a  jeering,  taunting  mob  of  enemies  whose 
faces  were  lit  up  by  flames  of  their  own  kindling.  He 
pulled  at  a  venture  and  fired  into  the  darkness. 

The  student  of  campaigns  of  armies  needs  no  corrobora- 
tion from  God's  Word  to  understand  what  could  happen. 
In  view  of  the  facts  of  secular  as  well  as  sacred  history,  it 
is  not  difficult  to  conceive  how  the  Almighty  can  use  a 
very  little  thing  to  ** panic"  a  body  of  men — even  such 
harmless  utensils  as  lamps  and  pitchers.  The  bullet  that 
was  aimed  at  a  venture  by  the  hard-pressed  Christian  had 
struck  the  invulnerable  Boxer  chief,  even  the  one  pano- 
plied in  an  apron  of  magic  characters.  He  reeled.  Fol- 
lowers leaped  to  him.  But  the  man  was  dead — shot 
through  the  heart.  The  braves  were  too  scared  to  use 
their  weapons.  Instantly  through  their  minds  there 
flashed  a  thought  that  froze  their  blood  :  *  ^  Horrors  !  There 
must  be  German  soldiers  inside.  Who  can  forget  them  ? 
Sharpshooters !  Who  knows  how  many  ?  These  devils 
of  the  second  rank  have  cunningly  concealed  them  there  ! 
Treachery  !  No  villager  could  shoot  like  that !  We  are 
all  dead  men  !'^ 

But  the  thought  that  at  first  numbed  their  limbs  now 
unlimbered  them.  Not  even  waiting  to  rescue  their 
bleeding  fellow,  they  went  pell-mell  down  the  narrow, 
dirty  streets,  shadowy  now  with  new  terrors.  Their  gait 
increased.  They  *'hit  it  up''  to  a  dead  jump.  Who 
knew  but  that  the  entire  German  army  was  after  them  I 
None  stopped  to  investigate. 

The  flames  were  soon  extinguished.    The  Boxers  came 


"IT  SHALL  NOT  COME  NIGH  THEE"   273 

not  again.  And  from  that  day  no  man  dared  touch 
them.  And  thereafter,  throughout  the  days  of  fierce 
alarums  and  fiercer  deeds,  the  Christiaus  of  the  '' village 
of  the  charmed  life^'  rested  in  a  security  and  a  peace  that 
was  the  marvel  of  all. 

And  read  the  story  of  the  plague  :  how  prayer  defeated 
the  death-stalker. 

Again,  a  few  years  later,  it  was  winter,  and  there  was 
a  cry  going  up  all  over  North  China  :  **  The  Christian's 
God  protects  from  the  plague  !  "  In  the  presence  of  the 
appallingly  long  lines  of  corpses  of  non-Christians,  that 
cry  was  impressive.  In  some  places  the  dead  were  un- 
buried  because  the  ground  was  too  hard  to  dig ;  in  others, 
because  money  could  not  hire  people  to  approach  the 
contamination  ;  in  others,  because  the  coffin  material  had 
long  since  been  exhausted  ;  and  otherwhere,  because  fuel 
failed  for  these  awful  holocausts. 

In  the  homeland  one  used  to  hear,  without  understand- 
ing its  meaning,  the  phrase:  ^*  Avoid  it  as  you  would 
the  plague  ! "  In  China  one  understands.  "  The  Black 
Death"  or  "Pneumonic  Plague''  attacks  its  victims 
with  something  of  the  sudden  ferocity  of  the  man-eater. 
It  tears  out  his  lungs.  In  two  or  three  days  the  stricken 
one,  spitting  blood,  dies  in  awful  agony.  No  known 
remedy.  Disease  one  hundred  per  cent,  fatal.  Can  catch 
anybody.     Terror  reigned  among  the  heathen. 

Its  ravages  were  severest  in  Manchuria,  where  some  of 
the  greatest  pentecostal  experiences  of  recent  years  have 
blessed  the  Church.  Alarmed  by  the  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity, officials  and  gentry  and  priests  had  there  banded 
themselves  together  in  the  aggressive  ''  Wu  Shen  Huei" 
(No-God  Society),  to  fight  Christianity  to  the  bitter  end. 
And  the  hand  of  the  Almighty  was  heavy  upon  them. 
Russia  and  Japan  were  threatening  to  step  in  and  clean 
up  thiugs,  their  ostensible  reason  being  rows  of  plague 


274  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

corpses  a  mile  long — not  rumour,  but  consular  reports. 
And  the  Christians  were  not  among  the  dead  !  Small 
wonder  the  heathen  in  fear  and  amaze  remarked  :  ^ '  Che 
si  ke  da  hsi  ki  di  sir  "  ("  This  is  a  portent ").  And  they 
began  to  question  if  the  vast  sums  spent  on  their  hideous 
idols  of  mud  and  the  temples  housing  them  were  worth 
while. 

In  those  days  the  Ninety-first  Psalm  was  precious  to 
Christians  : 

**  Because  thou  hast  made  the  Most  High  thy  habitation, 
There  shall  no  evil  befall  thee, 
Neither  shall  any  plague  come  nigh  thy  tent. 
For  He  shall  give  His  angels  charge  over  thee, 
To  keep  thee  in  all  thy  ways." 

Alas  !  The  heathen  did  not  realize  that  many  present, 
concomitant  blessings  follow  in  the  train  of  accepting 
Christ— among  them,  that  He  brushes  superstition  out  of 
their  hearts  ;  drives  away  the  demon  of  distrust  and 
doubt  of  the  good  intentions  of  all  foreigners ;  and  that 
He  creates  a  willingness  to  cooperate  with  intelligent  and 
skilled  and  sympathetic  physicians.  And  the  greater 
pity  was  that  as  heathen  they  could  not  know  these 
things. 

While  the  heathen  were  sowing  the  lie  that  the  "  foreign 
devils  ^ '  had  poisoned  the  wells — therefore  this  slowly  but 
relentlessly  creeping  death — the  Christians  were  studying 
our  plague  posters,  burning  garbage,  cleaning  up  yards 
and  rooms.  While  heathen  roughs  were  industriously 
striving  to  stir  up  riots  (because  of  the  inconvenience  of 
an  effective  quarantine),  and  expecting  to  snatch  some 
gain  out  of  the  general  confusion  caused  thereby,  the 
Christians  were  spreading  the  reasonableness  of  the  pre- 
cautions suggested  by  their  foreign  friends.  Often  when 
a  doctor  had  quickly  buried  a  plague  corpse,  the  heathen 


"IT  SHALL  NOT  COME  NIGH  THEE"    275 

relatives,  the  clan  C7i  masse^  came  and  iu  hot  displeasure 
unburied  it,  gave  it  a  ''  proper  burial,"  saved  the  corpse's 
^'face" — aud  all  died  themselves  for  their  trouble. 
While  heathen  officials  let  the  victims  fall  over  in  the 
streets  and  lie  there,  or  fester  in  their  houses — to  save 
their  own  "face  and  place" — the  Christians  warned  the 
brethren  how  to  be  careful.  While  heathen  went  out  and 
cut  off  the  queues  from  the  dead,  to  swell  the  false  hair 
industry  of  the  United  States,  adding  to  their  coffers  and, 
in  the  process,  adding  themselves  to  the  dismal  list  of  the 
coffined,  the  Christians  stayed  away  from  the  plague 
districts,  did  not  go  to  the  big  markets,  did  not  attend 
the  heathen  theatres  arranged  during  that  **  vacant" 
winter  season  by  priests  and  village  elders.  While  the 
heathen  journeyed  to  visit  relatives  aud  friends,  the 
Christians  kept  off  the  "big  roads,"  much  travelled, 
where  the  plague  stalked  daily  a  man's  journey  farther, 
sowing  death. 

The  case  of  the  Christians  in  "  the  village  of  the  charmed 
life"  is  in  point.  They  bring  to  us  a  striking  illustra- 
tion that  will  suffice  to  indicate  the  courage,  the  good 
sense,  the  freedom  from  superstition,  the  cheerful  fore- 
going of  personal  convenience  for  the  general  good,  the 
sense  of  responsibility  for  the  public  safety,  the  contempt 
of  danger,  even  risk  of  life,  in  order  to  save  men,  and  the 
prayer  of  faith  that  Christ  brought  in  this  crisis  to  some 
of  His  Christian  disciples. 

Near  this  village  is  another,  larger,  more  prominent,  a 
market  town.  The  two  are  only  eight  li  apart  (not  three 
English  miles)  j  but  in  spirit  they  are  separated  many 
leagues.  In  the  former,  the  home  of  the  Ting  Clan, 
many  have  really  accepted  Christianity  as  the  religion  of 
their  households.  In  their  midst  stands  to-day  rebuilt 
the  largest  and  best  constructed  church  building  of  our 
entire  station  field.     And  they  have  their  own  native 


276  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

pastor.  The  other  place,  the  market  town,  is  located 
conveniently  for  evil  men  on  the  boundary  of  three  coun- 
ties. In  it  many  roughs  reside  ;  to  it  many  thieves  re- 
sort. There  many  robbers  have  their  dens,  so  that 
peasants  of  the  surrounding  district  like  to  give  it  a  wide 
berth  when  the  afternoon  shadows  begin  to  lengthen.  We 
and  our  evangelists  have  often  preached  there,  and  as 
persistently  have  the  people  there  hardened  their  hearts. 

When  the  plague  swept  from  Manchuria  into  Shantung 
this  place  had  soon  lost  eighty  people.  And  in  the  vague 
fear  of  who  next  would  be  taken,  horror  like  the  black- 
ness of  darkness  brooded  over  them.  Even  the  post-of&ce 
had  closed  its  doors,  and  when  I  went  there  to  ask  for 
mail  there  came  from  within  a  gloomy  voice,  hoarse  from 
fright,  ordering  me  off.  The  stupidity,  along  certain 
lines,  of  unenlightened  peasant  heathenism  is  beyond 
comprehension.  At  that  time,  in  that  place,  a  donkey 
died  of  some  disease.  The  neighbours  thought,  whether 
correctly  or  not,  that  it  died  of  the  plague.  The  family 
who  owned  the  animal  knew  that  it  died  of  disease,  but 
nevertheless  made  a  feast — and  the  feasters  all  died. 
Then  one  of  the  village  fathers  slowly  and  solemnly  ven- 
tured the  sage  pronouncement:  "I  have  for  sometime 
had  my  doubts  about  the  wisdom  of  eating  animals  that 
have  died  of  disease  j  but  now  I  am  quite  sure  that  it  is 
a  trifle  risky  !  " 

Contrast  with  all  this  and  its  hateful  implications  the 
attitude  of  mind  of  the  Christians  in  the  "village  of  the 
charmed  life,"  they  to  whom,  as  in  the  case  of  many  other 
followers  of  the  Lord  of  peace,  had  not  been  given  the 
spirit  of  fear  but  rather  of  a  sound  mind,  and  who  were 
to  be  marvellously  delivered  from  the  present  pestilence, 
as  well  as  from  the  bondage  of  eternal  death. 

The  entire  Ting  Clan  was  home  for  the  all -important 
New  Yearns  Festival.     A  heathen  in  their  village,  feeling 


"IT  SHALL  NOT  COME  NIGH  THEE"   277 

sick,  went  to  the  other  village  to  get  some  seuseless  con- 
coction that  a  heathen  medicine  shop  sold.  While  there 
he  contracted  the  plague.  Two  days  later  he  was  dead 
in  his  house.  Immediately  on  learning  of  the  case,  Elder 
Tiug  and  two  of  his  nephews,  both  physicians — all  three 
men  educated  by  our  missionaries — took  charge  of  the 
situation.  As  earlier  hinted,  Elder  Ting  had  for  many 
yeara  been  a  professor  of  mathematics  and  science  in  one 
of  our  North  China  Mission  colleges.  His  training  had 
not  been  favourable  to  superstitious  fears.  One  reason 
why  for  the  last  ten  years  he  has  not  only  been  giving 
his  time  and  energy,  but  also  considerable  money,  towards 
supporting  our  Girls^  High  School  in  his  village,  is  his 
desire  that  these  girls  may  be  enabled  to  found  Christian 
homes  in  our  midst  where  the  deadening  heathen  fear 
shall  be  unknown.  I  rejoice  to  pay  him  this  tribute : 
that  he  is  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  solidest  elders  of  the 
church  in  Shantung.  Dignity,  sound  judgment,  benevo- 
lence, and  a  thought  for  the  public  good,  are  almost  an 
instinct  with  him.  The  last  named  quality  was  certainly 
not  learned  from  heathenism  about  him,  but  from  Him 
who  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to  minister. 
And  so  it  was  that  while  the  Christians  gave  themselves 
to  prayer  in  this  crisis,  he,  panoplied  of  the  Spirit,  gave 
himself  to  the  task  of  solving  the  problem  in  hand. 

The  narrow  alley  on  which  stands  the  house  of  the 
plague- victim  he  at  once  closed,  and  set  a  guard  of  trusty 
clansmen  at  each  end.  The  two  doctors,  his  nephews, 
scientifically  protected,  entered  the  yard,  soaked  the 
place  and  its  inmates  with  disinfectants,  and  sent  the 
family  away  from  the  village.  Then,  at  considerable 
expense,  they  hired  four  beggars.  Properly  protected, 
they  entered  the  death  room,  and  carrying  a  big  cloth 
soaked  in  disinfectants,  they,  with  the  doctors,  wrapped 
it  round  the  victim,  and,  quickly  carrying  him  outside 


278  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

the  village,  buried  him  in  a  place  apart.  That  was  the 
only  victim  of  the  plague  there,  although  Elder  Ting 
later  wrote  me :  **The  plague  is  west  of  the  water  and 
east  of  the  river" — his  way  of  saying  that  it  is  in  all  the 
villages  round  about. 

Our  Christians  with  grateful  hearts  and  opened  minds 
went  to  the  Bible  as  never  before  for  added  instruction 
and  comfort.  They  found  new  meaning  implicit  in 
Moses^  law  of  cleanliness  in  the  presence  of  prevalent 
leprosy,  smallpox  and  plague ;  and  to  this  day  they  are 
thanking  God  for  their  new  light  on  the  truth  that  the 
Scriptures  are  profitable  for  the  life  that  now  is,  as  well 
as  that  which  is  to  come.  Theirs  was  a  new  inspiration 
to  trust  God  from  their  realization  of  the  reality  of  the 
promise  of  God  to  His  people  as  voiced  in  the  Psalms : 

*'  Thou  shalt  not  be  afraid  for  the  terror  by  night, 
For  the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness. 
Nor  for  the  destruction  that  wasteth  at  noonday. 
A  thousand  shall  fall  at  thy  side, 
But  it  shall  not  come  nigh  thee.     .     .     . 
There  shall  no  evil  befall  thee 
Neither  shall  any  plague  come  nigh  thy  tent." 

Once  more,  consider  how  God  in  answer  to  prayer  held 
back  the  waters  from  whelming  the  "village  with  the 
charmed  life.'^ 

In  the  midst  of  flood  conditions  exceeding  in  duration 
and  violence  anything  for  forty  years,  it  had  a  deliver- 
ance little  short  of  miraculous,  so  the  people  affirmed. 
To  the  Westerner,  familiar  with  the  relatively  well- 
wooded  streams  that  run  past  farm  groves  and  through 
virgin  forests,  it  is  not  easy  to  conceive  the  significance 
of  the  prophet's  question  :  "  What  wilt  thou  do  in  the 
swelling  of  Jordan?"  But  to  the  dweller  in  those 
sections  of  the  Far  East,  where  for  centuries  the  hills 
have  been  practically  bare,  skinned  of  large  trees  and 


"IT  SHALL  NOT  COME  NIGH  THEE"   279 

denuded  of  soil,  and  the  river  banks  are  a  wide  waste  of 
sand  or  alluvial  overflow  deposit,  the  fury  of  the  river  in 
flood  is  appalling.  The  stream  becomes  a  living  creature, 
raging  in  relentless  fury,  a  monster  unleashed,  tearing  and 
rending,  taking  an  appalling  yearly  tribute  of  human 
life  and  treasure. 

For  four  months  it  rained  almost  daily.  At  last  the 
rich,  flat  soil  of  a  large  part  of  our  field  became  sheets  of 
mud.  Every  river  of  China,  to  the  extent  of  its  un- 
regulated power — not  merely  the  Yellow  Eiver — is 
"China's  Sorrow."  When  the  annual  summer  rains 
begin,  it  spreads  sandy  desolation  along  its  treeless 
length.  As  the  river  waxes  * '  li  hai ' '  (fierce)  in  its  swell- 
ing, it  overflows  its  banks,  attacks  the  foundations  of  the 
mud  houses,  sucks  them  into  its  ravening  maw,  leaving 
whole  villages  broken  and  spent — toppled  into  ruins. 

Siao  Kou  Hwoa,  the  river  that  flows  past  our  village, 
raved  this  particular  year  without  let  or  hindrance — ex- 
cept in  one  instance.  It,  as  the  Chinese  say,  ' '  opened 
its  mouth  ^'  (broke  its  banks)  in  eighteen  places  within 
six  miles  of  Da  Hsin  Tan  ;  but  never  harmed  it.  Villages 
everywhere  on  both  banks  were  whelmed.  What  this 
means  may  be  imagined  from  the  fact  that  the  villages  in 
this  level  region  are  peppered  so  thick  that  by  merely 
turning  one's  head  from  right  to  left  one  can  count  from 
thirty  to  sixty  of  them. 

The  river  hurled  itself  with  great  fury  against  seventy 
li  of  railroad  embankment,  strewing  it  all  over  the  peas- 
ants' farming  plots,  and  changed  its  course — a  trick  of 
Chinese  rivers.  In  the  process  it  broke  the  German 
bridges,  culverts  and  river  masonry,  wrecking  the  best 
work  that  the  foreign  engineers  had  done — all  near  the 
"village  with  the  charmed  life."  But  that  village  was 
spared.  The  more  is  the  marvel  because  directly  across 
from  Da  Hsin  Tan  the  river  crept  far  out  of  its  course  to 


280  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

eat  into  a  big  village  located  on  higher  ground  than  Da 
Hsin  Tan,  which,  like  the  towns  of  North  Holland,  lies 
snugly  behind  its  dyke,  a  few  yards  from  the  water,  and 
lower  than  its  surface. 

Incidentally,  here  is  a  significant  point.  The  heathen 
elders  of  that  village  for  some  distance  along  the  bank 
of  the  river  on  which  Da  Hsin  Tan  is  located  had,  in  their 
communal  capacity,  some  years  previously  asked  the 
Christians  to  take  charge  of  the  embankment  repair. 
Why  ?  Because  they  had  learned,  in  daily  dealings  with 
them,  that  they  were  reliable ;  that  they  could  be  trusted 
with  the  honest  administration  of  the  funds  of  other 
people  ;  and  that  they  were  sponsors  for  solid  work 
undertaken  for  the  public.  Consequently,  in  the  day  of 
the  swelling  of  Siao  Kou  Hwoa,  honest  sweat  and  toil, 
directed  by  able  and  consecrated  brains,  had  their  innings. 

But  even  more  sear chingly— how  can  such  a  deliver- 
ance be  explained  ?  Are  spiritual  forces  of  no  conse- 
quence as  assets  in  the  day  of  physical  testing?  Is  it 
nothing  that  in  the  midst  of  heathenism  this  village  had 
four  generations  of  Christians,  and  its  own  church  build- 
ing, pastor,  evangelist  and  Bible  woman  1  Also  that  our 
Girls^  Middle  and  High  Schools,  the  hope  and  prayer- 
focus  of  many  a  Christian  family  throughout  our  field,  is 
there?  This  Ting  Clan  had  repeatedly  and  signally 
stood  for  the  Lord  in  the  face  of  opposition,  loss  and 
persecution.  They  realized  that  all  their  hopes  are 
bound  up  in  the  true  and  living  God,  and  they  are  com- 
mitted to  His  service.  They  had  experienced  marked 
deliverances  before,  which  had  bulwarked  their  faith, 
and  which  were  now  to  them  earnests  of  God^s  grace  in 
these  troublous  days  of  flood  that  faced  them. 

They  took  God  at  His  word  ;  they  conformed  to  the 
conditions  laid  down  in  Psalm  32,  and  they  found  God 
faithful  to  perform  His  promise  of  saving  and  keeping  : 


"IT  SHALL  NOT  COME  NIGH  THEE"    281 

"  I  acknowledged  my  sin  unto  Thee, 
And  mine  iniquity  did  I  not  hide ; 
I  said  I  will  confess  my  transgressions  unto  Jehovah  ; 
And  Thou  forgavest  the  iniquity  of  my  sins. 
For  this  let  every  one  that  is  godly  pray  unto  Thee, 
In  a  time  when  Thou  mayest  be  found : 
Surely  when  the  great  waters  overflow 
They  shall  not  reach  unto  him." 

And  the  flood  stayed  at  their  very  doors.  Once  more 
the  prayer  of  the  godly  was  heard.  ^'Thou  shalt  call 
unto  me  in  the  day  of  trouble  j  I  will  deliver  thee  and 
thou  shalt  glorify  me.'^ 

What  that  deliverance  meant  we  later  realized  more 
vividly  when,  plunging  around  through  the  flooded  lands 
on  horseback  in  relief  work,  we  saw  the  other  villages 
thereabout  in  heaps  of  muddy  ruins  and  deserted  by  their 
strongest  indwellers.  All  who  could  get  away  fled  their 
places  as  from  the  plague.  Beggars,  who  were  shortly 
before  self-sustaining  farmers,  had  gone  out  of  these  vil- 
lages in  swarms.  The  smell  was  awful.  Lazy  flies  lay 
around  everywhere  by  the  thousands,  feeding  on  the 
filth.  Flood-fever  was  raising  its  spectral  form.  The 
water  had  drowned  out  the  wheat,  beans  and  gaoliang. 
Peanuts  and  sweet  potatoes,  the  standard  crops  and 
winter  food  of  our  people,  had  all  rotted  in  the  ground. 

In  many  villages,  where  the  houses  were  on  higher 
ground  and  better  built,  one  saw  the  "  water-mark '' 
eight  feet  or  more  upon  the  walls,  still  foul  and  oozy 
with  damp.  Such  a  height  of  water  meant  that  the 
people  had  stood  on  their  kangs  (brick  beds)  and  help- 
lessly watched  the  flood  creep  in  and  spoil  their  food  and 
wash  away  their  belongings,  and  often  topple  down  their 
houses,  in  whole  or  part,  upon  their  heads.  There  were 
instances  where  mothers  had  died  upon  their  kangs, 
holding  children  up  in  their  arms.     The  corpses  were 


282  CHINA  FROM.  WITHIN 

found  thus — ghastly,  realistic  pictures  of  flood-fury  and 
of  mother-love  that  even  heathenism  cannot  quench. 

Let  us  observe  a  typical  man  of  prayer  behind  it  all, — 
the  Rev.  Ting  Li  Mei,  Evangelist  of  Students,  and  how 
prayer  was  used  to  save  him  from  being  done  to  death. 

But  even  more,  forces  were  at  work  and  things  hap- 
pened in  connection  with  that  village  and  the  flood,  which 
have  not  yet  been  hinted  at.  I  have  said  that  the  Chris- 
tians prayed.  Cf  course  they  did.  But  there  was  one 
whose  home  is  among  them  who,  like  righteous  Noah, 
walks  especially  close  to  God,  and  who  knows  the  power 
of  prayer.  That  man  is  the  Eev.  Ting  Li  Mei,  nephew 
of  Elder  Ting,  whose  house  in  the  same  street  stands  only 
a  few  yards  from  that  of  his  honoured  uncle. 

Something  more  at  this  point  needs  to  be  said  of  the 
Eev.  Mr.  Ting,  wonderfully  used  all  over  China  among 
students  and  gentry,  officials  and  literati,  no  less  than 
among  country  Christians  and  church  leaders.  His  call- 
ing card  reveals  the  nature  of  the  man.  It  reads  :  ^*  Lord 
Jesus'  Blessed  Doctrine  Disciple,  Ting  Li  Mei."  Of  him 
J.  R.  Mott  says  :  "In  recent  years  he  has  influenced  the 
largest  number  of  students  to  devote  their  lives  to  the 
Christian  ministry  ever  secured  by  one  man  during  the 
history  of  the  Church  in  Asia.  Those  who  know  him 
best  will  tell  you  that  the  dynamic  secret  of  his  life  is  the 
central  place  which  he  gives  to  intercession.  The  last 
time  I  saw  him  he  had  recorded  in  a  book  the  names  of 
many  hundreds  of  individual  Christians  from  all  parts 
of  the  world  for  whom  he  prayed  day  by  day.  In  travel- 
ling with  him  from  Shanghai  to  Dairen  on  our  way  to 
the  conference  in  Mukden,  I  observed  that  he  spent  hours 
alone,  either  walking  the  deck,  or  seated  with  book  open  in 
his  hand.  Mr.  Brock  man  says  that  the  Student  Volunteer 
Movement  of  China  is  the  result  of  this  man's  prayers." 

It  can  now  hardly  be  said  of  Pastor  Ting  that  he  is  a 


«IT  SHALL  NOT  COME  NIGH  THEE''   283 

'* prophet  without  honour  in  his  own  country."  The 
story  of  his  life  has  been  carried  to  foreign  lands.  In  the 
spring  of  1907  he  was  made  a  delegate  to  the  World's 
Christian  Students'  Federation  Conference  at  Tokyo. 
Later  in  that  year  he  was  one  of  the  secretaries  for  the 
Pan- China  Presbyterian  Union  which  met  at  Shanghai, 
and  an  honoured  guest  at  the  Centenary  Conference. 
During  the  fall  the  Federation  of  seven  different  missions 
of  Shantung,  assembled  at  Tsinanfu,  the  capital,  elected 
him  their  president.  In  1909  he  was  a  delegate  to  the 
National  Christian  Endeavour  Convention  at  Nanking, 
where  he  proved  to  be  one  of  the  two  most  largely  used 
speakers.  In  the  midst  of  his  early  friends  he  was  *'the 
Apostle  of  Shantung,"  being  made  pastor-at-large  for 
that  great  Province  by  the  Presbyterian  Church  there. 
Yet  his  many  friends  and  admirers  felt  that  this  parish 
was  not  large  enough  for  him,  and  insistently  called  him 
to  labour  in  regions  beyond.  At  last  he  has  become  what 
the  West  China  Missionary  News  styles  "the  most  widely 
useful  Christian  of  the  Eepublic."  He  is  the  founder  of 
the  Chinese  Students'  Volunteer  Movement  for  the  min- 
istry, which  was  organized  to  include  students  in  various 
Provinces  of  China,  and  he  is  now  the  first  travelling 
secretary  of  this  movement.  In  the  year  of  1910-1911, 
preceding  the  Revolution,  he  was  blessed  in  leading  some 
seven  hundred  students  in  Mission  and  Government  gen- 
eral schools  and  colleges  to  enroll  in  a  Volunteer  Band, 
pledging  themselves  to  give  their  lives  to  winning  their 
fellows  to  Christ.  Ever  since  then  this  movement  has 
been  gaining  momentum,  going  forward  unobtrusively 
and  with  power. 

However,  the  important  thing  is  not  the  honours  but 
the  man  behind  them,  not  the  place  of  prominence  but 
the  spirit  in  him  that  causes  prominence  to  seek  him.  He 
is  a  modest,  quiet,  humble,  gentle  man.     His  is  a  smile 


284  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

and  a  persuasive  grace  that  insinuate  themselves  into 
every  one's  heart.  His  demeanour  and  the  atmosphere 
that  he  creates  is  such  as  one  might  imagine  to  have 
been  characteristic  of  the  Apostle  John,  or  of  Brown- 
ing's resurrected  Lazarus. 

As  Dr.  Mott  said;  ''Famous  as  an  evangelist,  he  is 
even  more  so  as  a  man  whose  attractive  character  and 
conduct  constitute  a  convincing  evidence  of  the  life  of 
Christ  in  man.  '^  The  immediate  source  of  his  strength 
is  his  assimilation  of  Scripture  and  his  talking  to  God. 
Impressions  of  him  from  West  China  corroborate  those 
from  East  and  North  and  South  China.  ''  Pastor  Ting's 
own  life  is  nurtured  by  the  Word  of  God.  Twice  each 
year  he  reads  the  Old  Testament  through  very  thought- 
fully, the  New  Testament  four  times  annually,  and  the 
Psalms  every  twenty  days.  He  is  thus  saturated  with 
Scripture  and  speaks  with  authority.  His  message  to  be- 
lievers and  non- Christians  alike  is  the  presence  of  sin,  the 
surpassing  love  of  God,  and  His  power  to  forgive,  and, 
through  His  Son,  to  save  abundantly.  Individual  work 
for  others  is  winsomely  set  forth.  In  enlisting  students 
for  Christian  service,  he  does  not  make  the  task  appear 
an  easy  one ;  instead  he  issues  a  challenge  to  faith  through 
an  appeal  to  conscience.  His  illustration  of  life,  as  being 
the  warp  of  the  Lord's  weaving  (which  would  be  useless 
without  the  woof  of  our  prayers)  suggests  his  personal 
attitude;  and  his  statement,  'I  trust  the  Lord  to  save 
me.  He  trusts  me  to  save  others '  is  the  basis  of  his  in- 
creasingly fruitful  career.  '^  Thus  strength  goes  out  from 
him.  Thus  every  place  that  Evangelist  Ting  Li  Mei  vis- 
its feels  the  power  of  his  personality  and  message  ;  many 
young  men  turn  to  Christ,  and  large  numbers  enter  the 
ministry. 

In  his  own  Province  he  has  been  used  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  a  remarkable  manner.     One  spring  he  went  to 


"IT  SHALL  NOT  COME  NIGH  THEE"    285 

Weibsieu,  where  is  located  the  Arts  College  of  the  Shan- 
tuDg  Union  Christian  University.  Eumour  had  it  that 
for  several  years  no  student  had  decided  for  the  ministry. 
Even  more  discouraging — that  the  influx  of  the  sons  of 
rich  heathen,  seeking  English  for  money-making  pur- 
poses, had  quite  wet-blanketed  the  religious  life  of  the 
institution.  God  so  planned  it  that  the  foreign  mission- 
ary pastors  were  in  the  country.  Pastor  Ting  went 
quietly  to  work.  Soon  students  were  praying  in  little 
groups  all  over  the  campus.  One  by  one  men,  smitten  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  began  to  volunteer  for  the  Christian 
ministry.  In  a  few  days  one  hundred  and  six  men,  the 
flower  of  the  classes,  including  a  gifted  Chinese  professor, 
had  renounced  their  earthly  ambitions  and  decided  for 
the  ministry.  When  asked  as  to  his  methods,  Pastor 
Ting  simply  replied  :  "  I  have  no  method  but  prayer.'' 

From  Weibsieu  he  went  to  Tsingcboufu,  the  seat  of  the 
Theological  Seminary  of  this  same  Union  University. 
Here,  not  only  were  the  students  stirred  to  extraordinary 
preaching  and  heretofore  undreamed-of  witness-bearing  ; 
not  only  were  the  older  believers,  men  and  women,  from 
the  city  and  surrounding  country,  roused  to  renew  their 
grip  on  the  blessed  God  ;  but  a  company  of  unbelievers — 
some  three  hundred,  even  including  officials  of  that  proud, 
old,  exclusive  city  of  the  Ming  dynasty — became  inquir- 
ers and  new  creatures  in  Christ. 

In  every  place  visited,  whether  the  centres  or  small 
villages,  the  Christians  have  been  mightily  moved  to 
newness  of  life  during  his  progress  through  the  Province. 
**  Judgment  must  begin  at  the  house  of  God.''  A  quick- 
ening among  the  chosen,  he  believes,  is  the  prelude  of 
the  heathen  turning  to  the  Lord  on  a  vast  scale,  as  in 
Korea.  When  that  day  arrives,  he  says  that  China's 
millions  will  experience  the  mightiest  Sychar-upheaval 
of  the  ages. 


286  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

In  I  Chou  Fu,  described  by  one  of  our  missionaries 
resident  in  that  walled  city  as  "  the  hardest  and  most  un- 
promising of  our  stations,"  under  Ting's  leadership  in 
special  meetings  there,  one  thousand,  three  hundred  and 
ninety-eight  inquirers  were  enrolled,  among  them  mem- 
bers of  a  wealthy  and  haughty  gentry. 

Power  not  only  accompanies  him  but  follows  in  his 
wake.  Even  now  from  far-off  Szechuan  Province  come 
reports  of  *^  evangelistic  bands  organized  in  the  wake  of 
his  triumphing  progresses."  These  ''  Scatter  the  Truth  " 
workers  go  out  book-selling,  preaching,  and  tract-dis- 
tributing. In  the  towns  flags  and  a  notice  stretched  across 
the  street  attract  people  to  their  meetings.  Thousands  of 
Gospels  are  sold  and  more  thousands  hear  the  Gospel 
orally  proclaimed.  Incense  pots  are  being  emptied  and 
idols  consigned  to  the  flames  amid  the  sounds  of  prayer 
and  praise  and  the  solemn  reading  of  the  Scriptures. 
Prayer  for  those  who  have  heard  the  Truth  are  answered 
in  most  remarkable  ways,  reminding  one  of  the  sure  word 
of  promise,  ^*  While  they  are  yet  speaking  I  will  hear." 

The  permanent  results  of  his  work  among  students  is 
suggested  by  the  following  facts.  As  travelling  secre- 
tary for  the  recently  established  Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment among  educated  Chinese  whose  objective  was  the 
devoting  of  life  to  Christian  services,  he  has  organized 
over  thirty  bands  of  volunteers  in  an  equal  number  of 
institutions,  beside  starting  numerous  prayer-circles  and 
groups  of  girl-workers.  He  is  particularly  interested  in 
the  latter,  for  the  reason  that  he  attributes  to  lady  mis- 
sionaries the  most  helpful  influences  exerted  over  him. 
Therefore,  he  is  affording  his  own  daughters  the  best  edu- 
cational advantages  in  Germany  and  China,  in  the  hope 
that  they  will  be  to  others  what  these  two  Christian 
women  were  to  him. 

If  signs  mislead  not,  Ting  is  a  Spirit-filled  man  j  and, 


« IT  SHALL  NOT  COME  NIGH  THEE  '^  287 

like  the  apostles  after  the  resurrection,  he  does  not  trust  to 
the  infilling  of  yesterday  to  perform  the  tasks  of  to-day. 

But  how  in  the  beginning  did  he  get  this  spirit  of  em- 
powering, this  eagerness  to  pray  and  to  trust?  What  cir- 
cumstances moved  him  *'  to  let  go  and  let  God  "  ?  Every 
true  child  of  God  experiences  spiritual  crises,  designed  of 
God  to  be  testings  of  love  and  faith-beckouers,  that  lead 
him  out  into  the  light  of  intimacy  with  Christ — if  he  will. 
And  this  illustrious  disciple  had  two  veritable  turning- 
points  in  his  career,  which,  in  the  goodness  of  the  Father, 
revealed  to  him  the  secret  of  power  in  God.  As  such 
they  bear  directly  on  the  theme  of  this  lecture.  In  them 
he  learned  to  know  God  immediately,  rather  than  medi- 
ately through  a  missionary  acting  as  a  sort  of  a  confessor- 
priest  ;  to  trust  God  directly,  rather  than  the  foreigner's 
powerful  Mission  and  what  it  can  furnish  of  cash,  plant 
and  equipment.  And  we  are  proud  and  glad  that,  as 
Ting  often  affirms,  the  human  agent  most  used  of  God  in 
one  of  these  experiences  to  open  the  eyes  of  his  soul  to 
see  God,  whom  to  see  is  to  love  supremely,  was  Miss 
Yaughan  of  our  station. 

Now,  because  the  weakness  of  God  is  stronger  than 
men,  the  Almighty  is  continually  using  a  humble,  un- 
expected means  or  instrument  to  attain  a  great  object. 
**God  chose  the  weak  things  of  the  world  that  He  might 
put  to  shame  the  things  that  are  strong."  In  this  partic- 
ular case  the  "  weak  thing  "  that  the  Lord  used  to  mark 
a  turning-point  in  Pastor  Ting's  career  and  thereby  seal 
him  in  a  strong  faith  was  a  humble  *' Women's  Bible 
School"  established  in  one  of  the  villages  of  our  field, 
begun  on  faith,  without  any  money,  by  Miss  Yaughan, 
Pastor  Ting  and  Elder  Tsiao.  Burdened  with  a  realiza- 
tion of  the  crass  ignorance,  the  unspeakable  wretchedness, 
and  the  appalling  lack  of  provision  for  giving  the  young 
married  women  and  particularly  the  cast-off  wives  and 


288  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

abused  widows  even  a  reading  knowledge  of  the  Bible, 
this  consecrated  trio  made  a  desperate  throw  of  faith,  and 
opened,  so  far  as  I  know,  the  only  Bible  School  for 
married  Chinese  women  that  was  founded  with  the  idea 
of  being  financed  and  operated  by  the  Chinese  Christians. 
At  first  unbelieving  workers  scoffed  at  the  idea  and  tried 
to  laugh  it  down.  But  Pastor  Ting  and  his  prayer-sup- 
porters persevered  and  the  money  came.  The  school  has, 
from  its  inception,  prospered  ;  indeed,  it  has  been  a  bless- 
ing to  many.  It  has  now  graduated  six  classes  of  young 
wives  and  women,  all  of  whom  have  creditably  completed 
the  three  years'  course  and  become  teachers  or  Bible 
women  or  the  makers  of  Christian  homes— all  without  a 
cent  of  expense  to  the  Mission. 

The  other  pivotal  episode  in  the  Eev.  Mr.  Ting's  career 
was  staged,  not  in  a  mud  village,  but  in  two  walled  cities  of 
East  Shantung.  He  who  was  a  child  of  the  covenant,  a 
Christian  of  the  third  generation  out  of  heathenism,  who 
has  loved  Jesus  from  his  youth  and  had  early  decided  for 
the  ministry,  had  at  twenty-eight  years  of  age  become  a 
pastor — the  dreadful  Boxer  year,  the  storm  not  yet  burst. 
And  one  day  he  found  himself  in  the  yard  of  a  magistrate's 
yamen,  at  the  mercy  of  the  ^'  Ya  I,"  the  officiaFs  hench- 
men, from  long  practice  expert  in  murdering  folks  in 
many  ways. 

When  Ting  was  brought  before  the  magistrate  and 
asked,  "Are  you  a  Christian?"  he  replied,  "Yes." 
Two  hundred  blows  with  a  bamboo  rod  that  hissed 
through  the  air  failed  to  weaken  his  faith.  Again  he 
was  asked  the  same  question,  again  the  same  reply,  and 
two  hundred  more  blows  were  inflicted  on  the  weakened, 
lacerated,  pulpy  body.  Skillfully  the  Ya  I  dealt  out  their 
doses  of  torture.  They  knew  that  after  the  victim  had 
passed  the  writhing  and  groaning  stage  he  could  stand 
little    more ;   he  was  near  death.     Then  the  obstinate 


"IT  SHALL  NOT  COME  NIGH  THEE"  289 

follower  of  Jesus,  "devil  of  the  second  degree '^— the 
missiouaiy  alone  being  of  the  ** first" — was  remanded  to 
prison,  a  hole  so  foul  and  loathsome  that  Americans  can 
scarcely  imagine  such  a  place.  With  returning  conscious- 
ness he,  like  Paul  in  prison,  preached  the  love  of  Christ 
to  fellow-sufferers. 

With  Ting  was  a  promising  young  Christian  physician, 
also  a  graduate  of  Tengchow  College,  who  likewise, 
stripped  of  his  garments  and  placed  with  his  face  upon 
the  ground  and  held  down  by  four  men  while  two  others 
beat  him  a  hundred  blows,  refused  to  deny  faith  in  Christ. 
This  torture  by  miserable  opium-eating  harpies  alternated 
with  the  torture  by  flies  and  vermin  and  filth  in  this  squalid 
dungeon  during  the  dog  days  of  an  unusually  hot  summer. 

While  Christians,  caught  and  hustled  into  yamens,  were 
usually  in  those  days  executed  at  once,  it  was  reported 
that  in  this  instance  the  officials  had  determined  to  tor- 
ture these  two  promising  young  men  as  long  as  possible 
before  doing  them  to  death.  These  were  to  be  played 
with  as  mice  by  cats.  A  senior  missionary  reports  that 
Ting  "  was  beaten,  half-starved,  burned,  pinched,  had 
needles  driven  under  his  fiuger  nails  and  was  strung  up 
by  the  thumbs."  And  he  had  none  to  call  upon  and 
trust  but  God  only. 

How  long  he  could  have  stood  being  thus  slowly  worn 
down  no  one  knows  j  but  something  happened.  God  had 
foreordained  to  save  this  young  '* martyr" — in  the 
inner  Greek  sense  of  **  witness- bearer  " — for  a  larger  use- 
fulness. Many  Christians  were  praying  for  him,  in  par- 
ticular the  fellow-clansmen  of  his  village  ;  and  the  Lord 
had  prepared  for  him  a  way  of  escape. 

Not  far  from  Tsingtau  is  another  ancient  city,  to  whose 
magistrate,  in  those  troublous  days,  a  German  officer 
thought  best  to  pay  his  respects.  Ordered  there  with  a 
troop  of  cavalry,  he  was  expected  to  get  a  needed  under- 


290  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

standing  with  the  magistrate.  The  episode  that  resulted 
would  be  comical  if  it  were  not  so  pitiful  as  a  revelation 
of  overweening  rashness,  of  impotent  arrogance,  of  self- 
deception  and  servility  of  spirit,  of  lack  of  wholesome 
self-respect  and  of  the  utter  moral  rottenness  that  char- 
acterizes heathenism,  untrained  in  Western  knowledge 
and  Christian  virtue. 

The  German  captain  halted  his  men  outside  the  city 
walls  and  attempted  to  send  in  messengers  to  the  magis- 
trate, asking  him  to  come  out  and  **  talk  it  over.  ^^  It 
was  **  market-day  ^'  and  the  city  was  packed  with  Boxer 
sympathizers,  supposedly  in  dangerous  mood.  When  he 
essayed  to  pass  through  one  of  the  massive  portals,  which 
pierced  the  walls,  teeming  with  hostile  men,  the  great 
spiked  gates  were  shut  and  barred  in  his  face,  and  the 
ambassage  was  foolishly  shut  out. 

The  dander  of  the  Deutschers  was  up.  In  sarcastic 
play  on  the  words  of  Savonarola  to  Lorenzo  II  Magnifico, 
the  captain  with  an  oath  muttered  fiercely  :  *^  You  shall 
come,  but  I  shall  stay  ! ''  Then  to  his  soldiers  :  ^^  Fetch 
me  that  magistrate  ! ' ' 

First,  however,  they  fetched  dynamite  and  disgraced 
the  city  beyond  measure  by  blowing  up  the  gate  and  con- 
nected tower.  Then,  to  show  their  contempt  for  Boxers 
and  Boxer-sympathizing  cities — and  in  their  daring  lay 
their  safety— a  handful  of  these  doughty  Deutschers  chose 
to  enter  the  city,  not  through  the  big  jagged  hole  they 
had  made,  but  by  scaling  that  grim,  sheer  wall,  though  its 
top  was  more  than  fifty  feet  above  the  moat. 

It  is  an  interesting  sight,  this  modern  exercise  of  soldiers 
of  foreign  governments  camped  in  China — climbing  the 
sheer  walls  of  cities  hoary  before  these  foreigners  had 
powerful  governments.  In  the  face  of  the  amazed  on- 
lookers, and  using  long  poles  and  ropes  borrowed  from  a 
near-by  dyer^s  shop,  and  with  wonderful  agility  and  close 


"IT  SHALL  NOT  COME  NIGH  THEE"  291 

team-work,  clingiDg  to  each  other  aud  the  cracks  like 
Bedouiu  guides  to  the  stones  of  the  pyramids — they 
mounted  to  the  top.  The  magistrate — luckless  fellow — 
who  au  hour  before  had  refused  to  come  out  and  parley, 
had  excused  his  declination  on  the  threefold  ground  that 
it  was  market- day,  that  the  city  was  full  of  strangers  of 
anti-foreign  spirit,  and  that  the  presence  of  Germans  in  the 
city  would  be  dangerous  to  the  Germans  !  In  the  mean- 
time he  had  fled  in  terror  to  the  inner  precincts  of  his 
yamen,  disguised  himself  as  a  beggar,  and  got  his  run- 
ners to  rig  out  a  fake  magistrate  in  his  ofificial  robes. 
But  the  soldiers  had  brought  along  a  shrewd  Chinese 
guide  and  interpreter  who  knew  the  real  official.  Through 
that  sullen,  silent  crowd  they  ploughed  their  way,  and 
into  the  yamen  itself,  where  in  an  inner  court  they  found 
and  seized  the  terror-stricken  *'  host."  Cringing  and  pro- 
testing, he  was  mercilessly  pulled  out ;  and,  like  a  whipped 
cur,  was  hustled  through  his  own  city  streets  jammed 
with  country  folks  in  for  the  market.  The  escort,  with 
rifles  at  ready,  pushed  swiftly  right  through  the  seething 
mass  of  people,  and  went  out  of  the  ruined  gate  that  they 
had  so  promptly  and  contemptuously  blown  up  in  the 
face  of  their  enemies. 

The  climax  of  humiliation  was  yet  to  come.  If  there 
is  anything  that  the  ordinary  land-lubber  of  North  China 
hates  it  is  water  in  quantity,  and  especially  in  the  form 
of  a  ducking.  The  troopers  with  gusto  and  in  grim 
horse-play  dragged  their  victim  through  the  stream  an- 
sweriiig  to  a  watered  moat  that  flowed  outside  the  city 
wall,  and  then  flung  him,  crestfallen  and  ill-disguised,  at 
the  feet  of  their  leader,  who  received  him  on  horseback 
— another  bitter  humiliation.  If  there  ever  was  a  be- 
draggled, dignityless  magistrate,  he,  clothed  in  his  hastily 
borrowed,  dripping  rags,  was  that  man.  Supposing  that 
such  boldness,  implying  corresponding  power,  could  fore- 


292  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

token  only  beheading,  lie  fawned  and  whined,  pleading 
for  mercy.  As  the  wretched  official  knocked  his  head 
on  the  ground  the  officer  thundered:  *^Next  time  a 
gentleman  wants  to  call  on  you  don't  forget  to  treat  him 
like  a  gentleman." 

Then,  when  the  magistrate  had  promised  what  was 
wanted — which  significantly  was  not  to  kill  Christians, 
Catholic  or  Protestant,  on  pain  of  puissant  Germany^  s 
hot  and  heavy  wrath — he  was  allowed  to  slink  away 
towards  the  city— his  city — his  people  filling  the  walls, 
excellent  bleachers,  and  anxiously  watching  the  comedy, 
his  tragedy  of  pride  and  loss  of  face.  Before  them  all  he 
capered  back  through  the  stream.  Scarcely  believing 
that  he  would  not  be  regrabbed  and  hauled  back,  he 
never  looked  behind,  but  churned  the  waters.  In  the 
meantime  his  runners  had  arrived  on  the  city  side  of  the 
bank,  and  there  deferentially  awaited  him  with  his  official 
sedan  chair  and  umbrellas.  Clad  like  a  beggar — oh, 
nameless  humiliation ! — but  riding  in  state,  he  disap- 
peared from  the  sight  of  his  derisive  visitors — hailed  by 
his  own  with  joy  as  a  conqueror,  returned  from  the  jaws 
of  death  ! 

The  point  of  this  episode  is  that  fear  of  the  daring 
Deutschers,  fear  of  condign  punishment  at  the  hands  of 
their  imperial  Government  which  would  stand  no  trifling 
and  brook  no  treachery  within  reach  of  its  mailed  fist, 
spread  fast  and  far.  From  that  day  forth  no  magistrate 
within  reach  of  German  rifles,  dynamite  and  machine 
guns  in  East  Shantung  had  much  stomach  for  torturing 
native  Christian  leaders. 

The  magistrate  of  Hwang  Hsien — in  whose  yamen 
prison  Ting  Li  Mei  was  rotting— soon  heard  the  startliDg 
news  of  how  resistless  foreign  troops  made  short  shrift 
with  the  dignity  of  Chinese  officials ;  and  Ting  Li  Mei 
was  safe — freed.     Some  say  that  he  owed  his  life  to  solic- 


"IT  SHALL  NOT  COME  NIGH  THEE"  293 

itous  missionary  friends  pleading  with  the  American 
Consul  who  telegraphed  to  Yuan  Shi  Kai,  who  ordered 
his  release.  But  the  Christians  afQrm  stoutly  that  God 
ordered  it,  through  their  prayers.  Cannot  both  be  cor- 
rect! Josei)h,  in  audience  with  his  guilty  brethren, 
said:  **  Ye  sold  me  hither;  for  God  did  send  me  before 
you  to  preserve  life. "  Individual  experience  and  history 
testify  to  the  reality  of  the  two  mysteries  inextricably 
interwoven. 

At  any  rate,  Ting  Li  Mel  came  forth  from  his  experi- 
ence a  new  man,  having  learned  to  know  God  imme- 
diately, and  to  trust  Him  directly,  this  realization  being 
even  clarified  and  intensified  by  the  other  later  episode, 
to  which  reference  has  already  been  made. 

Now  we  have  a  background  to  understand  the  delivery 
from  the  flood.  Ting  Li  Mei  knew  how  to  intercede; 
and,  when  his  village  and  clansmen  were  threatened, 
there  was  a  great  intercessor  on  hand  wrestling  with  God 
— and  prevailing.  For  Ting  Li  Mei  was  home  on  his 
summer  vacation  for  a  needed  rest.  The  need  for  that 
rest  may  be  better  understood  when  I  explain  that  on  one 
of  these  annual  home-comings  it  had  been  necessary  for 
me  to  hide  him  away  here  in  a  German  retreat  where 
neither  Chinese  nor  foreign  friends  could  learn  his  where- 
abouts, and  so  could  not  get  at  him  for  interviews  or 
speaking  engagements.  So  much  is  he  in  demand.  Only 
thus  could  he  rest. 

This  friend  was  not  only  not  too  tired  to  pray  ;  but  all 
who  knew  realized  that  he  was  praying  and  mightily. 
Eepeatedly  during  those  black,  stormy  nights  of  flood  the 
angry  waters,  filling  the  river  channel,  rose  level  with 
the  bank  ;  repeatedly  gusts  of  wind  and  spurts  of  rain 
sent  it  hatefully  crawling  and  wriggling,  serpent-like, 
over  the  edge  towards  the  village  nestled  helpless  below  ; 
repeatedly  patrolling  watchmen  out  of  the  darkness  (their 


294  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

paper-covered  lanterns  useless  for  the  rain  and  wind) 
raised  the  appalling  cry  that  the  embankment  had  sprung 
a  leak.     JS'evertheless  the  flood  was  stayed. 

The  might  of  his  prayers  was  manifest  not  only  in  the 
delivery  of  the  village,  but  in  Ting's  attitude  of  pity  and 
courage  towards  those  in  need  in  the  surrounding  villages. 
Imagine  this  picture :  When  the  land  became  thus  flooded, 
he,  rather  than  anybody  else,  volunteered  to  sally  forth, 
facing  the  rampant  waters  alone,  in  an  attempt  to  reach 
us  and  tell  us  of  the  relief  work  needed.  What  he  ex- 
perienced of  horror  crossing  those  miry,  flooded  fields  to 
reach  the  railway  station  none  will  ever  know.  Even 
when  he  reached  the  unbroken  section  of  the  railroad 
embankment,  he  had  to  grope  his  way  along  and  hang  on 
to  the  steel  rails  as  the  waters  surged  fiercely  around  him 
in  the  darkness.  It  was  a  magnificent  effort  and  it  suc- 
ceeded in  its  purpose. 

Needless  to  say  that  as  he  made  that  fearful  journey  he 
prayed  with  intensity  to  the  God  he  knows  experiment- 
ally. He  reports  that  during  those  toilsome  hours  he 
"held  the  Ninety- third  Psalm  in  solution  in  his  heart/' 
claiming  the  victory  of  God's  faithfulness : 

"  Because  he  hath  set  his  love  upon  me, 
Therefore  will  I  deliver  him. 
I  will  set  him  on  high ; 
Because  he  hath  known  my  name. 
He  shall  call  upon  me  and  I  will  answer  him ; 
I  will  be  with  him  in  trouble ; 
I  will  deliver  him  and  honour  him. 
With  long  life  will  I  satisfy  him ; 
And  show  him  my  salvation." 

Again  the  prayer  of  the  righteous  had  prevailed  and 
the  clan  of  the  village  of  the  charmed  life  and  its  illus- 
trious member  once  more  had  borne  to  them  witness  as 
to  the  present-day  truth  of  this  precious  Psalm. 


IX 

The  Promise  in  Its  First-Fruits 
A  Study  of  a  Typical  Parish — Tsingtau 


IX 

THE  PROMISE  IN  ITS  FIEST-FRUITS 

YESTERDAY  Tsiiigtau  was  uuknowu  ;  to-day  it 
is  the  cynosure  of  tlie  nations.  Its  investment 
by  the  Japanese  made  it  leap  overnight  into  a 
world  fame  that  its  remarkable  record  of  steady  progress 
was  more  slowly  but  surely  bringing  it.  So  far  as  I  know 
there  is  no  parallel  anywhere  in  Mission  lauds  to  the 
record  that  this  section,  Germany's  Imperial  Chinese 
Colony,  was  making  along  two  lines  :  in  the  combination 
of  business  prosperity  (immense  traf&c  with  the  vast 
hinterland^  plus  sea  commerce  with  many  trade  centres 
all  over  the  globe)  and  the  progress  of  self-governing, 
self-supporting,  self-propagating  native  churches.  And 
in  a  twinkling,  on  receipt  of  the  ultimatum  from  Japan 
to  Germany,  because  of  war  between  England,  Japan's 
ally,  and  Germany — both  Christian  nations  in  Europe — 
this  whole  prosperous  movement,  commercial  and  re- 
ligious, in  Asia,  has  been  thrown  into  inextricable  con- 
fusion, even  ruin — at  least  for  the  present. 

Shantung  Province  is  the  Pennsylvania  of  China.  By 
a  unique  and  hoary  history  it  binds  the  Provinces  of  the 
North  and  South  together — a  veritable  ^^  Keystone.'^ 
This  Province,  of  commanding  importance  because  of  its 
religious  and  political  preeminence,  and  with  a  third  of 
the  population  of  the  United  States,  reaches  out  into  the 
Yellow  Sea  eastward,  as  if  to  greet  Korea,  Japan,  and 
America.  Under  its  shoulder  lies  a  great  bay  on  whose 
inner  (i  e.,  its  northern)   side   is  situated  an  ancient 

297 


298  CHINA  FKOM  WITHIN 

walled  city,  Chinese  administrative  centre  of  all  that 
section,  called  Kiao  Chou.  On  the  coast  near  by  (i  e., 
southward)  is  the  still  larger  city  of  Tsiugtau  also  spelled 
^^ChiDg  Tao"  (Green  Island),  beautiful  for  situation 
and  laid  out  in  unusual  attractiveness.  This  strategic- 
ally located  metropolis  and  port  of  the  Kaiser's  one-time 
Asiatic  possession  nestles  on  a  well-favoured,  seaward- 
facing  peninsula.  From  the  open  ocean  one's  steamer 
passes  into  an  outer  bay,  commanding  an  entrancing 
view  of  the  city  set  up  on  and  in  its  hills ;  and  on 
through  a  narrow  entrance,  something  like  that  of  the 
Golden  Gate,  to  emerge  on  the  north,  into  the  inner  bay, 
said  to  be  one  of  the  finest  in  the  world,  land-locked  by 
encircling  hills.  This  bay,  thirty  miles  across,  is  capable, 
as  the  Germans  affirmed,  of  holding  the  navies  of  the 
world. 

Here  again  German  science  and  skill  supplemented 
the  art  and  power  of  nature,  and  made  advantage  doubly 
advantageous  by  converting  into  good  land  and  by  cov- 
ering with  great  government  brick  and  stone  warehouses 
and  customs  buildings,  many  acres  that  not  long  before 
were  swamps  or  salt  water. 

After  fourteen  years  of  labour  and  the  expenditure  of 
many  million  marks,  German  brains,  industry  and  per- 
severance constructed  out  over  the  shore-line  of  this  con- 
verted land  a  *'Kleiue  Hafen"  and  a  '^Grosse  Hafen'' 
(little  and  great  harbour).  These  two  triumphs  of 
engineering  skill  with  their  walls  of  concrete  and  stone 
and  iron — the  Kleine,  for  Chinese  junks  and  other  small 
craft ;  the  Grosse,  for  the  large  ships  of  war  and  com- 
merce— were  perfect  refuges  from  the  fury  of  the  storm 
king. 

Within  the  shelter  of  those  walls  a  gigantic  dry  dock 
was  built,  the  only  one  in  the  leagues  of  Chinese  coast 
At  the  mechanical  school,  connected  therewith,  great 


THE  PROxMISE  IN  ITS  FIRST-FRUITS    299 

war-sliips  and  mercliantineu  could  be  expeditiously 
cleaued  aud  thoroughly  repaired.  In  the  iuner  harbour 
were  built  great  granite  quays,  such  as  up  to  that  time 
the  Far  East  had  not  seen.  Alongside  these,  through- 
from-Europe  steamers  discharged  their  cargoes  directly 
into  freight  cars  drawn  up  on  double  tracks.  These 
were  one  web  of  a  well-paying  railroad,  which  the  Ger- 
mans, with  keen  foresight,  had  built  across  the  whole 
length  of  this  east-and-west-lyiug  peninsular  province, 
with  daily  trains  to  and  from  the  great  provincial  capital 
of  Tsi  Nan  Fu,  three  hundred  miles  in  the  interior — that 
capital  being  the  natural  political,  business,  and  edu- 
cational centre  of  some  forty-five  million  people.  Not 
only  was  this  railway  linked  with  the  great  trunk  lines 
running  north  and  south,  ultimately  to  reach  from 
Canton  to  Mukden,  but  the  boast  was  that  Tsiugtau  was 
only  two  weeks  by  rail  from  London. 

One  is  surprised  at  the  rapidity  as  well  as  the  thorough- 
ness with  which  the  Germans  effected  their  revolution- 
izing changes.  In  November,  1897,  their  cruiser -squad- 
ron sailed  into  the  harbour  aud  took  possession  of  the 
unknown  Chinese  village.  It  soon  became  the  cleanest, 
healthiest,  most  attractive  and  most  beautiful  city  of  the 
Far  East — a  veritable  triumph  of  sanitation,  skill,  science, 
industry,  efficient  management  and  military  astuteness. 
Money  was  not  spared  to  develop  it.  In  nothing  is  this 
better  illustrated  than  in  the  road-making  which  was  car- 
ried out  with  enthusiasm  and  with  the  imperiousness  of 
the  Romans ;  no  difficulties  or  expense  balked  the  exe- 
cution of  the  plans — hills  were  cut  and  levelled,  great 
ravines  were  filled,  mountains  climbed  and  chasms 
bridged.  The  result  was  well-nigh  perfect  roadways 
such  as  the  traveller  sees  in  the  Swiss  Alps — and  that 
in  a  land  that  may  be  said  to  be  devoid  of  roads,  or 
whose  roads  are  bottomless.     Each  of  the  principal  roads 


800  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

bad  four  divisions :  a  part  for  pedestrians,  for  wheel- 
barrows, for  carriages,  and  for  horseback -riding. 

In  like  manner,  not  the  city  alone,  but  its  environs  for 
miles  were  beautified  by  a  very  able  and  ceaselessly 
active  forestry  department,  that  planted  millions  of  trees 
on  the  hillsides;  established  numerous  and  extensive 
model  gardens  ;  orchards  of  luscious  fruits  ;  groves  of  in- 
digenous and  foreign  trees ;  encouraging  the  Chinese  to 
buy  slips  sold  at  cheap  rates.  Nor  only  so,  but  the  rail- 
road territory  was  beautified  at  each  station  across  the 
whole  length  of  the  Province,  and  all  its  embankments 
anchored  with  tree  groves.  The  proverbially  skinned 
Chinese  mountains  were,  throughout  the  German  conces- 
sion, in  successful  process  of  reforestation — an  object  les- 
son of  incalculable  value  for  the  governors  and  viceroys 
of  vast  treeless,  flood-cursed  sections  of  China. 

The  only  place  in  China — possibly  in  the  Far  East — 
where  the  pneumonic  plague  was  successfully  combatted, 
where  not  even  one  case  crept  in,  was  the  German -leased 
territory.  In  the  face  of  the  inability  of  the  Japanese, 
the  Eussian,  the  International,  and  the  British  settlements, 
and  of  the  Chinese  Government  promptly  to  fight  down 
that  dread  disease  of  the  Far  East,  the  Germans  warded 
it  off  completely.  To  accomplish  this  the  Government 
used  the  full  strength  of  its  elaborate  military  system. 
At  the  outset  it  spent  an  emergency  appropriation  of 
over  $100,000,  and  went  on  to  practically  a  war  basis  in 
fighting  this  foe.  It  was  kept  out  from  the  land-ap- 
proach by  rows  upon  rows  of  barbed  wire  and  cavalry 
patrols,  and  quickly  installed  field-telephone  stations, 
triple  lines  of  infantry  sentries,  a  large  and  efiScient  med- 
ical staff  conveniently  located  on  the  boundaries,  as  well 
as  by  detention  wards  which  were  great  government  out- 
post barracks — clean,  heated,  well-equipped  and  pro- 
visioned, and  converted  for  that  use ;  and  it  was  kept  out 


THE  PROMISE  IN  ITS  FIRST-FRUITS    301 

from  the  sea-approacli  by  patrols  of  cruisers  and  torpedo- 
destroyers  aud  searcli-liglits. 

It  was  likewise  a  tribute  to  the  advantage  of  such  a  gov- 
ernment aud  of  such  a  system  of  modern  civilization  that 
great  numbers  of  Mauchu  mandarius  and  Chinese  ex-of- 
ficials fled,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  into  Tsing- 
tau.  They  brought  with  them  their  fortunes  and  fami- 
lies. Their  money  was  invested  in  land  and  in  the  erec- 
tion of  great  brick  and  stone  buildings,  entirely  new  sec- 
tions being  added  en  masse  to  the  city.  It  was  natural 
that,  under  such  favouring  conditions,  Chinese  business 
men,  who  are  proverbially  keen  for  good  openings,  should 
also  swarm  to  the  German  territory  from  all  parts  of 
China ;  likewise  Japanese,  and  merchants  from  India,  had 
come  and  were  all  doing  a  thriving  business.  And  the 
irony  of  fate  is  that  until  August,  1914,  Tsiugtau  was 
generally  looked  upon  as  the  safest  place  in  the  Far  East, 
both  as  to  immunity  from  disease  and  flood  and  famine, 
and  as  to  freedom  from  the  ravages  of  insurrection  and 
war,  which  latter  two,  with  their  consequent  anarchy  and 
distress,  had  been  distracting  and  terrorizing  other  parts 
of  China. 

Heathen  superstition  is  very  expensive,  both  of  time 
and  energy  and  of  money  squandered,  as  well  as  of 
souls  wrecked.  Its  outworkings  always  grind  the  face  of 
the  people,  making  it  financially  difficult,  and  in  many 
sections  impossible,  for  them  to  build  railroads,  aside  from 
the  fact  that  the  mutual  suspicion  and  distrust  engen- 
dered by  heathenism  greatly  hinders  the  undertaking  of 
large  public  works.  With  characteristic  thoroughness 
the  Germans  had  built  their  finely  ballasted  railroad  from 
their  seaport  into  the  great  hinterland.  This  opened  up  a 
new  world  of  prosperity  for  the  Chinese  all  along  the  line, 
and  even  to  the  remote  corners  of  the  Province.  There 
being  now  a  market  and  means  of  transportation  for 


802  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

produce,  instead  of  the  crops  rotting  on  the  ground  where 
raised,  an  era  undreamed  of  had  arisen  in  the  Province. 
The  missionaries,  it  is  true,  had  helped  the  Chinese  in 
Shantung  to  a  knowledge  of  new  and  i^rotitable  crops  and 
to  markets  for  them  j  but  these  markets  became  available 
largely  through  the  German  railroad.  For  example,  the 
missionaries  introduced  the  Irish  potato  among  the  Chi- 
nese Christians  who  formerly  were  in  extreme  poverty, 
with  no  sale  for  what  they  did  raise,  meagre  as  that  was. 
Now  on  the  railroad  they  were  shipping  potatoes  and 
walnuts  and  bean-oil  and  brooms  and  many  other  products 
by  the  carload  to  Tsingtau.  As  one  result  of  their  first 
shipment  some  Christians  of  a  far  western  district  -were 
so  grateful  that  they  began  to  tithe  ;  and  in  addition,  as 
a  thank-offering,  they  erected  a  church  building.  That 
was  the  beginning  of  a  tithing  system  to  which  many 
American  Christians  are  strangers.  Even  in  the  winter 
of  1911-1912,  in  the  worst  days  of  the  Ee volution,  when 
business  all  over  the  country  was  conceded  to  be  dead,  the 
peasants  of  the  Presbyterian  Mission-field  around  Tsing- 
tau shipped  into  that  place  for  the  world-market  fifty 
thousand  tons  of  peanuts,  the  original  planting  of  which 
was  one  of  the  many  interesting  and  valuable  by-products 
of  a  certain  missionary's  life. 

Multitudes  of  people,  both  in  Europe  and  America, 
have  for  a  series  of  years  been  wearing  straw  hats  made 
from  braid  woven  by  the  peasants  in  the  remote  villages 
of  Shantung — another  incident  of  this  railroad.  This 
trade  also  was  suggested  to  the  Chinese  by  a  missionary. 
And  over  this  road  hundreds  of  thousands  of  tons  of 
this  material  have  rolled  in  to  Tsingtau  for  the  world- 
market. 

The  people  of  Shantung  have  been  afraid  to  mine  their 
stores  of  coal  and  iron,  because,  forsooth,  to  dig  in  the 
earth  would  have  been  to  prick  the  Venerable  Dragon, 


THE  PllOMISE  IN  ITS  FIllST-FRUITS    303 

and  rouse  him  to  fury,  causiug  Liin  to  visit  appalling 
calamities  upon  them.  So,  for  fuel  they  have  burned 
corn-stalks  and  raked  the  grass  off  grave  mounds,  and 
picked  up  stray  leaves,  and  dug  bean  roots — while  the 
riches  of  anthracite  were  beneath  their  feet.  The  Ger- 
mans, at  enormous  initial  expense,  opened  the  mines ; 
and,  because  of  the  railroad,  coal  speedily  became  usable 
in  multitudes  of  peasant  villages  and  market  towns  and 
cities  that  were  fed  from  the  railway  stations.  Inciden- 
tally, at  the  outbreak  of  war,  the  mines  were  ruined, 
flooded  by  water,  and  the  costly  machinery  destroyed,  lest 
they  should  profit  the  Japanese— and  an  army  of  Chinese 
miners  are  now  jobless,  hungry  and  desperate,  ready  to 
swell  the  hordes  of  robbers,  professionals  because  that 
trade  apparently  is  the  way  of  least  resistance  to  a  living. 

Not  only  has  the  development  of  all  these  industries  and 
businesses  meant  new  and  better  and  greatly  diversified 
employment  for  hundreds  and  thousands  of  Chinese,  but 
it  has  meant  a  steady  increase  in  wages  and  in  the  scale 
of  living.  Eight  or  ten  years  ago  in  this  section  men 
were  employed  by  Chinese,  not  by  foreigners,  as  cheaply 
as  at  one  to  two  cents  a  day  for  unskilled  labour.  Tsing- 
tau  came  to  mean  the  employment  of  vast  numbers,  also 
the  development  of  skilled  labour.  German  brains,  capi- 
tal and  science  had,  in  the  way  of  material  civilization, 
performed  prodigies  for  the  Chinese,  things  which  the 
paralysis  of  heathenism  made  it  impossible  for  them  to 
accomplish  for  themselves. 

Yet  in  all  their  prosperity-giving  to  others,  the  Germans 
had  also  come  in  for  their  full  share.  Situated  midway 
between  Shanghai  on  the  south  and  Tientsin  on  the  north 
(two  great  emporia  of  the  Orient) — wich  Korea  and  Japan 
on  the  east,  and  the  immense  hinterland  of  China  on  the 
west,  the  natural  advantages  of  Tsingtau's  location,  from 
the  standpoint  of  large  and  increasing  commercial  pos- 


304  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

Bibilities,  plus  the  plans  of  a  far-seeiug,  powerful  Govern- 
ment, had  combined  to  make  this  place  in  seventeen  years 
grow  from  an  unknown  fisher  hamlet  to  a  city  of  90,000 
people,  a  remarkably  prosperous  port  and  sea  outlet  for 
the  interior.  This  was  witnessed  by  the  fact  that  in  five 
years  it  had  risen  from  twenty-second  place  in  the  amount 
of  money  that  its  customs  receipts  turned  into  the  Chinese 
Government  (after  having  subtracted  the  twenty  per 
cent,  retained  by  the  German  Government)  to  fifth  place 
—exceeded  in  its  business,  as  indicated  in  this  unique 
record,  only  by  Shanghai,  Tientsin,  Canton,  and  Fuchow. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  here  to  remark  upon  how  Ger- 
many came  into  possession  of  this  strategic  place.  Nor 
is  the  recital  of  the  remarkable  achievements  of  the 
Germans  in  develojiiug  so  interesting  and  so  successful  a 
centre  in  Asia  to  be  misconstrued  as  taking  sides  in  the 
wo  rid- war.  **Just  as  a  church  historian  might  show 
that  the  famous  roadways  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  the 
first  century  made  it  possible  for  Christian  Missions  of 
that  day  to  accomplish  a  work  which,  humanly  speaking, 
could  not  have  been  accomplished  without  those  roads, 
so  the  author  is  merely  intending  to  show  that  the  tem- 
poral work  of  the  Germans  in  China  has  afforded  certain 
opportunities  which  the  Christian  Church  there  has  been 
quick  to  take  advantage  of.  It  is  remote  from  my 
thoughts  or  purpose  that  the  material  civilization  of  the 
Germans  has  anything  to  do  with  the  merits  of  the  pres- 
ent war." 

Suffice  it  here  to  say  that,  following  the  dramatic  de- 
velopments of  the  Chino-Japanese  war  that  so  startlingly 
made  history  in  the  Far  East,  Tsiugtau,  with  a  near-by 
hinterland  (styled  by  the  Germans  Kiautchou,  the  German 
spelling  of  the  ancient  walled  city  on  the  inner  side  of 
the  great  bay)  fell  to  the  German  Government.  That 
Government  began  to  create  a  capital  city  that  is  unique, 


THE  PROMISE  IN  ITS  FIRST-FRUITS    305 

a  revelation  to  a  vast,  ill-governed,  unsanitary,  non- 
progressive section  of  what  centralized  authority,  using 
plenty  of  money,  technical  skill  and  expert  knowledge, 
unwarped  by  graft  and  blackmail  and  wabbling  policy 
or  no  policy — all  applied  to  civic  welfare — can  accom- 
plish. 

Shantung  Mission  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  soon 
came  to  feel  that  it  would  be  strategic  to  have  in  this 
city  a  centre  of  operations  for  this  part  of  its  field, 
especially  since  the  country  work  could  be  easily  reached, 
at  least  in  part,  from  the  stations  along  the  contemplated 
railway  running  to  the  interior  from  Tsingtau.  Pre- 
viously it  had  been  feasible  to  shepherd  the  groups  of 
Christians  of  this  region  only  from  Chefoo  on  the  northern 
coast  of  the  Province  five  days  of  hard  riding  away. 

Accordingly  in  1898  the  Mission  appointed  Drs.  Cor- 
bett  and  Bergen  a  committee  with  power  to  act.  And 
the  result  of  their  investigation  was  the  founding  of  Tsing- 
tau Station,  with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Bergen  as  pioneer  mem- 
bers. The  legend  runs  that  they  began  their  far-reaching 
work  here  temporarily  **  housed  in  a  piano  case.^'  In 
our  field,  the  name  of  Dr.  Bergen,  since  translated,  no 
less  than  that  of  Dr.  Corbett,  still  with  us,  is  one  to  con- 
jure with. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  in  connection  with  this  parish 
that  the  person  who  revealed  Tsingtau  to  the  world 
and  who  may  in  some  real  sense  be  called  its  founder 
was  never  a  member  of  this  station — the  Rev.  F.  H. 
Chalfant,  D.  D.,  of  Wei  Hsien,  one  of  the  American 
Presbyterian  Missions  located  in  the  centre  of  Shantung, 
an  able,  consecrated  missionary,  loved  and  honoured  by 
all  who  knew  him.  In  his  itinerating  he  came  to  know 
of  this  wonderful  harbour,  and  he  sent  sketches  of  it  to 
the  Shanghai  papers,  urging  that  the  place  be  developed. 
During  the  Chiuo -Japanese  war,   1894-1895,   when  the 


306  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

missionaries  from  the  interior  were  forced  to  flee  for  their 
lives  because  of  the  ignorant  prejudices  and  groundless 
hatred  of  the  Chinese  populace,  it  was  difficult  for  the 
missionaries'  wives  and  children  to  make  the  dangerous 
journey  over  the  hilly  country  several  days  away  to  the 
city  of  Chefoo  on  the  north  side  of  the  Province.  So 
Dr.  Chalfant  sent  a  message  to  the  American  admiral, 
asking  him  to  come  to  the  harbour  of  Tsingtau,  then  a 
small  fishing  village,  and  there  take  off  the  women  and 
youngsters.  The  admiral  replied  that  he  knew  of  no 
such  harbour.  Dr.  Chalfant  sent  him  maps  of  the  local 
littoral.  The  cruiser  came  and  found  it  as  the  missionary 
had  said.  Thus  in  its  finding  and  founding  the  place  is 
missionary  ground. 

Given  such  a  centre  of  such  promise,  of  such  natural 
advantages  for  work  and  business,  it  was  inevitable  that 
in  the  general  influx  of  enterprising  men  the  Christian 
Chinese  also  in  numbers  would  flock  to  it ;  and  in  the 
Province  where  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  especially 
strong  it  was  also  inevitable  that  a  local  Presbyterian 
church  should  be  founded.  Such  a  church  was  sure  to 
have  educated  men  in  it ;  for  wherever  a  city  is  prosper- 
ing, men  of  good  parts  and  high  character  will  go  to  it. 
Shortly  after  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  the  late  Dr.  C.  W. 
Mateer  began  in  Teugchow  a  boys'  school,  continued  by 
his  younger  colleague.  Dr.  W.  H.  Hayes,  who  with  his 
senior  colleague  is  justly  honoured.  The  school  developed 
into  the  most  noted  school  of  higher  learning  in  that 
section  of  China.  Shantung  Province  is  full  of  graduates 
who  passed  under  the  spiritually  fruitful  moulding  hands 
of  these  missionary  teachers. 

The  opportunities  at  Tsingtau  were  so  exceptional,  de- 
manding well-trained  men  along  all  lines,  and  giving 
them  high  wages  for  their  work,  that  many  able  Chris- 
tian men  of  the  Province  gravitated  there  as  naturally  as 


THE  PROMISE  IN  ITS  FIRST-FRUITS    307 

the  needle  seeks  the  pole.  The  leaders  of  this  church 
were  almost  without  exception  graduates  of  our  Tengchow 
CJoUege.  How  much  the  founder  of  that  school  meant  to 
them  was  strikingly  illustrated  when  Dr.  Mateer  died  in 
the  Faber  Kraukenhaus,  the  City  Hospital  of  Tsingtau. 
These  men — pastors,  elders,  deacons  and  various  members 
— *'Dr.  Mateer 's  boys" — begged  the  hospital  and  Gov- 
ernment authorities  to  allow  them  the  unprecedented 
favour  of  having  his  body  in  their  midst  for  a  farewell 
service,  at  which  they  sang  out  of  the  hymn  book  he  had 
helped  to  prepare  and  read  comfort  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment he  had  helped  to  translate.  Later  they  escorted  in 
a  body  all  that  was  mortal  of  their  beloved  teacher  to 
the  ship  for  the  sea  voyage. 

Naturally  these  men  and  members  of  their  families 
back  in  the  country,  who  also  had  tasted  the  advantages 
of  Christian  education,  would  have  their  children  edu- 
cated ;  and  as  our  Mission  in  this  section  was  unable  to 
give  them  anything  higher  than  the  village  school  pri- 
mary work,  they  sent  them  by  the  hundreds  to  the  Ger- 
man Mission  schools  here.  Many  of  these  pupils  were 
taught  by  some  of  our  strongest  Christian  men  and  women 
in  the  employ  of  the  Germans ;  and  thus  an  additional 
link  was  forged  binding  this  constituency  to  the  local 
church  organization. 

All  these  opportunities  for  advancement  culminated  in 
the  University,  founded  and  run  jointly  by  the  Chinese 
and  German  Governments.  Although  more  expensive 
in  board  and  tuition  than  any  Mission  College,  its  equip- 
ment, the  thoroughness  of  its  work,  and  its  prestige  were 
such  that  there  were  in  attendance  at  it  some  four  hun- 
dred students,  a  large  majority  being  sons  of  officials  and 
rulers-to-be  of  China.  A  corps  of  able  German  special- 
ists conducted  the  departments  of  jurisprudence,  engineer- 
ing (electrical,  mining,  and  railroad),  medicine,  and  agri- 


808  CHINA  FEOM  WITHIN 

culture.  Students  matriculated  from  all  the  eighteen 
provinces  of  China  j  among  them  were  many  young  fel- 
lows of  promise  who  had  been  taught  in  our  Shantung 
Mission  schools.  These  were  out  of  our  Christian  families 
and  they  too  were  linked  up  with  this  church — one  of 
them  being  the  son  of  the  famous  student-evangelist, 
Ting  Li  Mei.  Thus  the  church  had  a  constituency  edu- 
cated along  various  lines.  Members  of  it  became  real- 
estate  dealers,  storekeepers,  and  importers  and  exporters, 
high  school  teachers,  university  professors,  evangelists, 
sub-chiefs  and  assistants  in  post,  telegraph  and  telephone 
offices,  and  in  various  other  German  Government  depart- 
ments. 

Many  Chinese  of  ordinary  ability  and  attainments  also 
became  connected  with  the  church  because  of  the  better 
employment  obtainable,  with  steady  increase  of  wages 
and  the  higher  scale  of  living  open  to  them  as  well  as  to 
the  heathen  who  flocked  to  Tsingtau.  Back  in  the  in- 
terior many  of  these  men  would  have  been  employed  by 
their  fellow  peasants  at  thirty  to  sixty  tiao  and  board  a 
year  ($8.00  to  $16.00  gold).  These  men  could  now,  as 
the  veriest  coolies,  get  at  least  twenty  to  thirty  cents  a 
day  for  unskilled  labour. 

A  considerable  number  of  country  Christians,  as  cooks, 
table  boys,  messengers,  clerks,  and  men  of  all  work  in 
foreign  homes  and  stores  and  offices,  now  found  a  living 
wage. 

Also  many  men  became  connected  with  the  church 
through  one  of  the  educational  institutions  established  by 
the  German  Government,  a  mechanical  school  of  complete 
and  modern  equipment,  a  great  plant  located  in  the 
Grosse  Hafen  near  the  wharves.  From  seven  hundred 
to  a  thousand  promising  apprentices,  many  of  them  sons 
of  our  Christian  families  in  our  country  field,  were  in 
this  school.     They  were  bright  fellows,  studying  during 


THE  PROMISE  IN  ITS  FIRST-FRUITS    309 

the  daytime  in  the  machine  shops,  taking  a  six  years' 
course  as  electricians,  plumbers,  moulders,  mechanics, 
workers  in  iron,  steel,  brass  and  wood.  In  the  evening 
they  studied  German,  arithmetic  and  other  studies  useful 
for  their  trade.  During  their  apprenticeship  they  re- 
ceived an  increasing  wage.  They  could  do  much  of  the 
work  on  any  steamer  or  war  vessel  that  went  into  Tsing- 
tau  dry  dock  for  repairs — ^^a  nautical  shave, '^  as  it  was 
called.  They  could  even  make  turbine  engines  and  elec- 
trical motors.  After  graduation  they  received,  as  master 
workmen,  high  wages. 

Thus  it  was  a  church  whose  constituency  was  also  one 
of  every-day  useful  work ;  of  experience  in  practical 
affairs. 

One  of  the  most  crucial  problems  of  the  Christian 
Church,  set  in  the  midst  of  Chinese  heathenism,  is  the 
illiteracy  of  multitudes  of  men  Christians;  another, 
possibly  even  more  serious,  Is  the  denser  ignorance  and 
vacuity  of  mind  of  the  wives,  due,  in  many  cases,  to  the 
quite  unrelaxed  clutch  of  superstition  upon  them.  Many 
churches  in  China  may  be  said  to  be  churches  of  men. 
The  greatest  opposition  and  the  bitterest  persecution 
often  arise  from  the  women- folks.  In  this  parish  the 
case  was  not  so.  The  leaders  described  are  men  who 
would  never  be  satisfied  with  heathen  wives.  In  as  far 
as  it  was  within  their  power  they  would  see  to  it  that 
their  wives  and  women-folks  were  educated.  Indeed  many 
of  them  were  graduates  of  one  or  another  of  our  Mission 
Girls'  High  Schools,  a  considerable  number  of  them  from 
Wei  Hsieu,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  best  Girls'  High 
School  in  the  Province. 

It  would  have  been  a  revelation  to  any  foreigner  to 
step  into  one  of  the  regular  weekly  prayer-meetings  of  the 
women,  or  their  monthly  missionary  meeting,  or  their 
business  meetings,   and  see  the  manner,   according  to 


310  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

parliamentary  usage,  in  which  their  affairs  were  con- 
ducted. The  wife  of  one  of  the  elders  is  the  daughter  of 
one  of  our  leading  pastors,  a  graduate  of  one  of  our  best 
High  Schools  and  also  a  physician,  trained  in  Western 
medical  science  by  one  of  our  lady  missionaries.  In  ad- 
dition she  is  principal  of  a  large  German  Mission  Girls* 
High  School.  It  would  also  have  been  an  eye-opener  to 
any  foreign  ecclesiastical  body  composed  of  male  mem- 
bers, as  it  was  to  our  Chinese  Presbytery,  to  have  this 
little  lady — beautiful  of  face,  dainty  and  attractive  in 
dress,  a  skilled  teacher,  wise  and  winsome  mother  of 
six  children — stand  before  them  and  expound  with 
cogent  and  irrefutable  logic,  as  one  who  understood  her 
subject,  the  need  of  certain  reforms  not  only  in  Chinese 
female  education  in  general,  but  in  the  curricula  and  ad- 
ministration of  our  own  Christian  Girls'  High  Schools. 
Nothing  could  more  convincingly  demonstrate  that  the 
women  of  China,  given  a  chance,  are  to  be  the  power  in 
the  Church  that  consecrated,  Spirit-filled  womanhood 
can  be  in  any  other  land. 

One  of  the  lamentable  things  met  with  in  heathenism 
is  the  unreliability  of  men  not  trained  in  Christ.  The 
character  moulded  by  heathenism  is,  as  expressed  by 
Chinese  sages,  ^^  rotten  wood.^^  Brilliance  of  mind  or 
executive  ability  or  great  learning — no  attainment  that 
the  world  can  give — seems  able  to  cover  up  this  vital 
weakness.  Even  Li  Hung  Chang,  great  as  he  was 
recognized  to  be  along  various  lines,  could  not  disprove 
the  charge  that  he  was  in  the  employ  of  the  Eussian 
Government  in  transactions  that  were  damaging,  even 
traitorous,  to  the  welfare  of  his  country. 

It  is  only  in  Christ  that  true  integrity  of  character  is  re- 
vealed ;  and  this  has  been  manifested  many  times  in 
members  of  this  Tsingtau  church.  One  of  its  leaders 
who,  through  sheer  native  ability  and  character  moulded 


THE  PROMISE  IN  ITS  FIRST-FRUITS    311 

of  the  Holy  Spirit,  has  come  to  a  position  of  affluence, 
has  loug  been  able  to  borrow  large  sums  of  money  at 
cheaper  rates  than  any  other  real  estate  dealer  of  this 
section.  He  is  the  kind  of  a  man  who,  having  been 
helped  through  school  by  a  missionary  friend,  came  to 
that  friend  in  his  day  of  need  and  insisted  on  paying  back 
all  that  his  missionary  friend  had  paid  out  for  him,  plus 
ten  per  cent,  interest.  Another  business  man  of  the 
church  was  so  able  and  trustworthy  that,  out  of  many 
men  of  this  Province — bankers  whose  ancestors  for  gen- 
erations had  been  bankers — he  was  chosen  by  the  Govern- 
ment to  manage  one  of  its  provincial  banks.  And  in  the 
Revolution  crisis,  when  banks  everywhere  failed,  this 
branch  did  not.  There  are  men  in  this  church  whose 
word  is  as  good  as  their  bond,  and  the  heathen  know  it — 
an  unanswerable  testimony  to  the  power  of  God  in  the 
presence  of  well-nigh  universal  lying. 

In  the  crash  of  banks  during  the  Revolution  some  of 
our  Christians  here  were  members  of  a  local  bank  that 
failed — through  no  fault  of  theirs,  as  far  as  we  could 
learn.  At  their  own  initiative  they  made  it  a  point  of 
honour  to  recover  every  cent  with  interest  of  several 
hundred  dollars  that  one  of  their  missionary  friends  had 
placed  with  them.  All  that  is  only  another  way  of  say- 
ing that  honour  and  trustworthiness  such  as  Christ  alone 
inculcates  are  among  these  Christians. 

If  one  at  this  date  dared  to  write  some  of  the  sub  rosa 
facts  as  to  the  part  the  Christians  played  in  the  Revolu- 
tion, it  would  make  an  amazingly  interesting  narrative. 
No  class  of  people  equalled  the  Christians  in  their  opposi- 
tion to  the  rotten,  effete,  hopeless  Manchu  dynasty.  And 
it  would  be  hard  to  find  a  company  of  Christians  more 
alive  with  patriotism  than  the  members  of  this  particular 
church.  Drinking  tea  with  several  members,  I  asked 
tiiem  where  they  got  this  Bunker  Hill  idea  of  patriotism, 


312  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

with  abhorrence  of  autocracy.  I  said  :  "You  know  there 
are  millions  of  people  caring  not  a  rap  who  is  in  the 
political  saddle.'^  "Ah,  but,''  they  said,  "when  we 
were  boys  studying  under  Dr.  Mateer,  what  he  taught  us 
of  the  Scripture,  and  the  way  he  taught  it,  put  into  us  a 
flavour  of  hatred  of  all  this  injustice,  official  graft, 
dynastic  prerogative,  and  irresponsible  government !  " 
Surely  here  was  a  Chinese  variant  of  Lincoln  in  his  young 
boyhood,  from  what  he  had  learned  of  the  curse  of  slavery, 
vowing:  "If  ever  I  get  a  chance,  I  will  hit  that  thing 
hard  ! ''  Long  before  the  Manchu  Government  had  been 
defeated  by  the  Republican  forces,  this  company  of  Chris- 
tians had,  on  the  inside  walls  of  their  church  building, 
painted  a  frieze  composed  of  many  "flowery  flags  of  the 
Republic  " — the  red,  yellow,  blue,  white,  and  black  fac- 
ing the  worshipper  on  every  side. 

When  it  looked  as  if  Russia  was  about  to  make  an 
open,  shameless  steal  of  Mongolia,  the  twelve-year-old 
son  of  one  of  the  elders,  a  manly  Christian  little  fellow, 
his  face  suffused  with  intelligence,  suddenly  disappeared. 
He  left  a  note  which  read  :  "Dear  Father,  please  forgive 
me  for  leaving  home  unceremoniously.  I  have  gone  to 
Chefoo,  where  I  hope  to  enlist  to  fight  against  Russia  !  " 
His  action  was  not  strange,  in  view  of  the  spirit  pervad- 
ing his  home.  It  was  Concord  and  Lexington  over  again. 
When,  at  the  inauguration  of  the  Revolutionary  move- 
ment, it  looked  dark  for  the  Republic,  and  when  it  was 
feared  that  foreign  nations  would  interfere  to  carve  up 
the  country,  not  only  were  frequent  and  special  prayer- 
meetings  held  for  the  welfare  of  the  cause  so  near  their 
hearts,  but  repeatedly  various  men  of  the  church,  with 
tears  in  their  eyes,  came  to  my  study  asking  me  to  pray 
with  them  for  the  progress  and  complete  success  of  the 
Republican  movement. 

In  this  local  church  Republican  leaders  from  many 


THE  PROMISE  IN  ITS  FIRST-FRUITS    313 

sections  met  to  arrange  for  the  printing  and  distributing 
of  literature,  to  lay  plans  for  the  capture  of  the  important 
cities  in  the  Province,  and  in  every  way  possible  to  ex- 
pedite among  the  country  people  the  propaganda  for  the 
Republic.  Indeed  so  zealous  were  its  leaders  that  the 
German  Government,  whose  sympathies  were  all  mon- 
archical, felt  called  upon  to  attempt  to  break  up  their 
propaganda,  and  came  within  an  ace  of  expelling  from  its 
colony  several  of  our  strongest  Christian  leaders  for  Rev- 
olutionary activity,  an  activity  which,  however,  is  rec- 
ognized the  world  over  as  legitimate  in  a  neutral  land. 

This  action  of  the  German  Government  so  aroused  the 
ire  of  the  young  men  of  the  church  that  it  fed  into  and 
precipitated  the  following  episode,  typical  of  several  such 
efforts.  One  morning  the  ''^Deutsche  Werft^''''  the  me- 
chanical school  already  referred  to,  awoke  to  find  that  it 
was  minus  hundreds  of  apprentices.  The  young  Chris- 
tian men,  training  with  their  fellow -mechanics,  had  dur- 
ing the  night  mysteriously  disappeared.  They  joined 
forces  with  other  enthusiastic  fellows  and  marched  on 
several  important  market  towns  and  walled  cities  of  the 
Province. 

Indeed  the  contagion  of  enlistment  was  strong  among 
the  young  men  at  the  schools  everywhere,  not  least  among 
the  students  of  the  Mission  schools  throughout  the  Prov- 
ince. 

It  is  apt  to  be  a  sure  sign  that  a  man  believes  in  the 
cause  to  which  he  subscribes,  especially  subscribes  out  of 
poverty.  The  local  church,  through  its  emissaries  in  the 
Province  among  many  villages,  collected  considerable 
sums  of  money  from  the  villagers,  not  only  Christian  but 
non- Christian.  So  fiery  were  their  orators  and  so  enthusi- 
astically and  earnestly  did  they  present  their  cause  that 
repeatedly  headmen  of  heathen  villages  sought  me  out, 
saying :    "  Our  village  also  wants  to  subscribe  to  this 


314  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

fund  being  raised  by  the  Christians  in  Tsingtau  !  ^'  This 
was  an  amazing  statement,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  usually 
the  difficulty  in  squeezing  subscriptions  out  of  heathen 
country  folk  for  the  public  welfare  is  like  getting  blood 
out  of  a  turnip.  The  total  subscribed  for  the  cause  by 
local  business  men  interested  in  the  church  and  by  mem- 
bers on  salary  was  a  very  large  sum. 

How  some  of  them  actually  suffered  for  the  cause  may 
be  hinted  at  in  a  story  of  the  butchery  of  some  of  these 
enthusiastic  young  volunteers  in  connection  with  their 
taking  a  certain  walled  city.  It  was  a  magnificent  piece 
of  nerve,  pure  bluff,  without  much  order  or  leadership,  a 
burst  of  unrestrained  patriotism,  a  kind  of  Chinese  Boston 
Tea  Party,  but  with  a  disastrous  ending. 

In  the  night  they  stole  into  the  city,  captured  the 
yamen  '* arsenal"  and  money  chest,  and  shut  up  the 
yamen  runners.  Then,  with  rifles  levelled  at  the  head 
of  the  magistrate,  they  demanded  that  he  declare  on  the 
spot  for  the  Eepublic  or  resign.  He  did  both,  and  then 
slipped  away  in  the  darkness.  Once  in  possession  of  the 
city — the  inhabitants  indifferent,  not  caring  a  flip  who 
was  on  top  so  long  as  their  property  was  unmolested  and 
they  not  seized  for  money — the  boys  held  a  council  of 
war  and  deliberated  what  to  do  with  the  white  elephant 
on  their  hands.  While  they  deliberated  as  to  how  to 
hold  and  rule  a  city,  the  magistrate  was  guiding  a  special 
train  load  of  Manchu  regulars  to  the  scene. 

While  the  city  slept  they  stole  quietly  over  the  wall, 
and  by  the  light  of  a  gray  dawn  the  shooting  and  bayo- 
netting  of  the  boys  began.  The  butchery  was  soon  over  ; 
only  a  dozen  captives  were  reserved  as  a  warning  to 
would-be  rebels,  for  public  torture  and  beheading.  The 
yamen  yard  was  crowded  with  spectators.  Bound  and 
stripped  to  the  waist,  the  boys  were  marched  in  before 
the  magistrate  implacable  in  hate.     Last  in  line  was  a 


THE  PROMISE  IN  ITS  FIRST-FRUITS    315 

young  fellow  of  special  promise  who  was  completing  his 
sixth  year  of  apprenticeship.  Then  a  strange  thing  hap- 
pened. An  old  man,  whom  I  later  learned  had  recently 
lost  a  sou,  was  filled  with  pity  at  the  sight  of  the  victims. 
He  stood  at  the  outer  entrance  to  the  court  and  as  the 
last  boy  passed  him,  he,  in  the  seething  mass  and  unob- 
served, cut  the  cords.  The  boy  squeezed  back,  the  crowd 
closed  in,  while  he  sped  down  the  street.  Later  a  mounted 
squad  was  put  on  his  track.  For  days  he  escaped  them 
— the  villagers  hid  him  by  day  and  helped  him  on  towards 
home  by  night.  But  at  last  the  troopers,  before  whom 
dangled  the  prize  of  a  special  reward  and  honours,  rode 
him  down  and  shot  him  before  the  eyes  of  our  Christians. 
And  none  of  the  Chinese  dared  tell  the  father.  They 
feared  it  would  kill  him. 

The  son  had  been  engaged  to  the  daughter  of  one  of  our 
Christians.  After  his  murder  the  girl  was  soon  married 
to  another  man,  and  the  father,  believing  his  son  yet 
alive,  and  sore  at  the  seeming  affront  and  **  loss  of  face,'^ 
came  to  me,  complaining  bitterly.  It  was  the  first  time 
I  had  seen  him  since  the  tragedy,  and  it  was  my  sad 
duty  to  tell  him  the  facts.  I  did  it  as  tenderly  as  pos- 
sible ;  but  he  sank  to  the  ground,  a  crushed  and  broken 
man.  Dry-eyed  and  speechless  he  went  home  and  from 
that  day  spoke  little  to  any  one.  On  a  later  visit  to  him, 
he  kept  muttering  mournfully:  **A  dry  stick,  a  dry 
stick ! "  Yes,  his  root  of  posterity  was  dead.  In  re- 
peated instances,  between  the  activity  of  the  German 
Government  cooperating  with  the  Mauchu  Government, 
it  looked  as  if  leading  Christians  of  Revolutionary  tend- 
encies might  be  ground  between  the  upper  and  the 
nether  millstones  of  monarchism. 

Indeed  so  pronounced  were  the  patriotic  proclivities 
of  the  local  church,  so  well  were  they  known  for  subscrip- 
tions and  for  Revolutionary  activities,  that  Sun  Yat  Sen 


316  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

felt  it  necessary  to  go  out  of  his  way  to  pay  them  a 
special  visit  of  honour,  when  he  might  have  gone  directly 
from  Peking  to  Nanking.  In  the  days  when  he  was  the 
national  hero  (after  he  had  given  up  the  provisional 
presidency  in  order  to  unite  the  North  and  the  South) ; 
when  he  was  invested  by  Yuan  Shi  Kai  with  extraordi- 
nary powers ;  when  to  him  the  great  sealed  gates  of  the 
Forbidden  City  (through  which  none  but  emperors  have 
ever  passed)  were  thrown  open ;  when  his  reception  by 
the  leaders  of  the  capital  was  enough  to  turn  the  head  of 
any  man ;  when  he  was  charged  with  a  weighty  com- 
mission to  mature  and  execute  plans  for  providing  China 
with  a  complete  system  of  trunk  railways  and  was  on  his 
way  South  to  work  out  that  plan — at  that  period  in  his 
career,  rushed  for  time,  he  journeyed  on  a  special  train  by 
way  of  Tsingtau  in  order  that  he  might  visit  these  Chris- 
tians. Incidentally,  the  German  Government  ignored 
him,  though  the  greatest  crowd  in  the  history  of  Tsiugtau 
turned  out  to  receive  him.  Incidentally,  it  forbade  the 
local  church  to  complete  its  arrangements  for  him  to 
speak  before  its  members  and  to  entertain  him  at  tea. 
Incidentally,  the  leaders  and  elders  of  the  church,  in 
conclave  over  the  matter,  decided  pointblank  to  defy  the 
mandate  of  the  German  Government,  dated  on  a  Sunday 
and  signed  by  the  Governor,  Prinz  Heinrich  and  the 
Chief  of  Police,  and  held  their  patriotic  meeting  with 
Sun  Yat  Sen  as  speaker  and  gave  their  tea.  It  was  one 
of  the  few  bluffs  of  the  German  Government  that  in  in- 
ternational history  to  date  has  been  called.  Incidentally, 
the  distinguished  visitor,  against  pressure,  observed  the 
Sabbath. 

The  patriotism  of  women  and  girls  in  any  land  is  usually 
displayed  indirectly,  perhaps  most  conspicuously  through 
the  spirit  they  put  into  their  men ;  least  of  all  would  a 
showy,  dramatic  outburst  be  expected  from  Chinese  girls. 


3 


o  I 

2  I 
O  I 


THE  PROMISE  IN  ITS  FIRST-FRUITS    317 

However,  there  was  a  high-grade  "Deutsche  Madchen- 
Scbule"  in  Tsingtau  attended  by  many  of  the  daughters 
of  our  Presbyterian  elders  and  leaders.  When  this  affront 
to  "the  Washington  of  China''  occurred,  even  these 
Chinese  girls  were  not  lacking  in  a  method  to  indicate 
their  high  displeasure.  Soon  after  Sun  Yat  Sen  had  passed 
on  to  Shanghai,  Priuz  Heiurich,  escorted  by  an  Imperial 
German  cruiser  squadron,  returned  to  Tsingtau  from 
Japan  where,  at  the  obsequies  of  the  Japanese  Mikado, 
he  had  acted  as  German  envoy  extraordinary  and  per- 
sonal plenipotentiary  of  the  Kaiser.  With  the  glamour 
and  6clat  that  was  his,  performing  such  functions,  and 
accompanied  by  his  own  princely  staff  and  by  the  Im- 
perial Governor  and  his  staff— all  mounted  on  prancing 
chargers,  and  arrayed  in  the  glory  of  gold  lace,  gala 
uniforms,  plumed  helmets  and  flashing  sabres — well  cal- 
culated to  overawe  ordinary  mortals,  not  to  mention 
bashful  Oriental  maidens,  he  one  day  graciously  conde- 
scended to  visit  this  school,  blessing  benighted  Chinese 
girls  with  Deutsche  Kultur^  in  order  to  give  them  the 
privilege  of  singing  German  songs  in  the  German  lan- 
guage in  his  awesome  presence.  Alas !  with  shocking 
lack  of  reverence,  they  not  only  refused  to  sing  these 
songs  before  his  Imperial  Highness,  but  kept  him  and 
his  illustrious  company  waiting  an  unconscionable  time, 
finally  to  send  in  word  to  the  impatient  great  ones  that 
they  could  not  condescend  to  appear  before  the  ignorers 
of  the  noble  Sun  Yat  Sen  !  When  before  had  the  Kaiser 
been  defied  by  women  ? 

At  its  annual  Mission  Meeting  in  1913  the  Shantung 
Mission  plumed  itself,  and  justly,  on  taking  a  long  ad- 
vance step  in  mission  administration  along  the  lines  of 
the  much  heralded  "devolution  plan  of  India."  By  this 
plan  it  began  to  share  the  responsibility  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  its  native  work  with  a  committee  of  native 


318  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

church  leaders.  This  meant  not  only  the  joint  dis- 
bursement of  the  funds,  but  also  the  joint  choosiDg 
and  dismissal  of  all  evangelists,  Bible  women  aud 
teachers. 

However,  as  an  interesting  commentary  on  the  influ- 
ence of  the  local  Tsingtau  church,  as  a  by-product,  so  to 
speak,  of  its  witness,  another  fact  must  be  chronicled. 
Cogitating  much  on  the  creditable  way  in  which  this 
local  church  was  administering  its  own  affairs, — calling 
a  better  class  of  workers  and  paying  them  higher  salaries, 
and  consequently  getting  the  work  done  by  its  Chinese 
helpers  better  than  the  station  was  getting  its  work  done  by 
its  Chinese  helpers, — we  decided  to  lay  before  the  leaders 
of  our  station  field  these  facts  for  their  consideration,  in 
order  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  our  field  work.  Accord- 
ingly in  the  spring  of  1909,  four  years  before  the  Mission 
took  its  action,  the  station,  at  the  suggestion  of  its  senior 
member.  Dr.  Hayes,  invited  the  Chinese  pastors  of  our 
station  field  to  come  together  and  confer  upon  this  matter. 
This  meant  nothing  less  than  to  plan  for  the  ultimate  au- 
tonomy of  the  native  church  throughout  our  field.  We 
met  for  prayer  in  a  little  tea  house  of  our  garden,  which 
place  may  in  the  good  providence  of  God  come  to  mean 
to  our  station  what  a  certain  hay-stack  became  to  the 
Home  Church. 

All  present  frankly  discussed  the  idea — namely,  a 
much  fuller  and  more  complete  cooperation  of  the  native 
leaders  with  the  station — aud  the  plan  was  outlined  for 
jointly  administeriug  the  work  as  already  indicated. 
We  were  filled  with  thankfulness  over  what  was  mani- 
festly a  wise  and  reasonable  step  of  His  ordaining  for 
advancing  the  Kingdom  in  our  midst  by  placing  the 
responsibility  for  its  progress  and  the  honour  of  its 
development  much  more  largely  in  the  hands  of  the 
native  church  leaders. 


THE  PROMISE  IN  ITS  FIRST-FRUITS    319 

We  separated  to  pray  and  meditate  more  fully  over  the 
plau,  again  to  meet  in  November — when  it  was  con- 
summated. An  immediate  and  gratifying  result  was 
that,  not  only  did  this  committee  of  native  church  lead- 
ers, jointly  with  the  station,  begin  to  choose  teachers  and 
evangelists  of  even  a  better  grade,  and  to  supervise  their 
work,  but  the  Churches  of  the  country  field  began  forth- 
with to  take  upon  themselves  an  increased  proportion  of 
the  support  of  native  work,  paying,  from  this  date,  in  all 
cases,  at  least  one-third  of  the  cost  of  schools,  and  in  a 
number  of  cases  one-half  and  three-quarters;  in  some 
instances,  putting  their  schools  on  a  self-supporting 
basis ;  in  others,  increasing  the  support  of  their  preach- 
ers. This  step  gave  the  foreigners  of  the  station  an  op- 
portunity to  prove  indubitably  their  confidence  in  the 
ability  of  the  Chinese  to  increase  their  share  in  the 
management  of  the  native  church,  and  revealed  the 
cordial  relationships  which  we  sustain  with  the  leaders 
of  the  country  field. 

The  expressive  Chinese  phrase,  "the  burning  heart," 
has  in  our  section  come  to  take  on  the  meaning  of  eager 
devotion  to  Christ  in  soul-winning  work.  It  may  be 
thus  used  by  the  Christian  constituency  all  over  China  ; 
but  I  came  first  to  know  its  meaning  in  this  local  church 
where  its  leaders  were  thoroughly  imbued  with  that 
spirit.  I  am  thinking  of  one  elder  who  made  it  his 
business  to  found  the  Sunday-school ;  and  by  the  logic  of 
eminent  fitness  he  was  year  after  year  elected  its  superin- 
tendent— himself  thoroughly  committed  to  the  Wana- 
maker  aphorism:  **Win  a  man  and  get  a  unit ;  win  a 
boy  and  get  a  multiplication  table.'*  Another  elder,  an 
able  and  experienced  principal,  has  confided  to  me  that 
the  underlying  thought  in  his  mind,  all  his  life  long  as  a 
teacher  of  boys,  has  been  not  only  to  make  good  students, 
but  to  lead  boys  to  a  vital  experience  in  Christ. 


320  CHINA  FKOM  WITHIN 

In  our  Station  Boys'  High  School,  weekly  ministered 
to  by  the  local  church,  so  carefully  has  the  spiritual  life 
of  the  boys  been  cultivated  that  hardly  one  has  been  able 
to  be  in  the  school  a  year  and  not  give  his  heart  to  God  ; 
and  almost  all  of  them  have  decided  to  be  preachers  or 
teachers  in  our  Christian  schools. 

An  elder  of  this  church  is  one  of  the  most  forceful 
preachers  in  this  Province.  He  it  was  who,  with  his 
talented,  well-trained  wife,  went  into  a  certain  walled 
city  (one  of  the  hardest  fields  imaginable),  where  the 
people  would  not  receive  them  because  they  were  the 
followers  of  the  foreign  devils,  where  they  could  scarcely 
buy  food  and  water,  where  the  people  were  determined 
to  force  them  out,  where  during  a  great  fall  of  snow  they 
nearly  perished  from  the  reluctance  of  dealers  to  sell 
them  necessities;  but  finally  by  his  wife's  skill  as  a 
physician,  and  by  his  zeal  according  to  knowledge  as  an 
evangelist — their  united  pluck  and  perseverance,  faith 
and  love — they  laid  foundations  for  a  church  now  con- 
tinued in  a  remarkable  evangelistic  and  educational  work 
in  that  city  by  another  evangelist  of  unusual  ability  and 
promise. 

In  this  very  church,  in  the  atmosphere  that  from  the 
very  first  pervaded  it,  developed  Ting  Li  Mei,  its  first 
ordained  pastor,  now  prince  of  Chinese  evangelists. 
Some  of  his  finest  experiences  that  opened  his  eyes  to  the 
glory  of  the  Lord,  the  beauty  of  holiness  and  the  rewards 
of  faith,  came  to  him  here  before  he  became  too  much  in 
demand  to  serve  in  a  local  parish. 

Men  who  have  with  faithfulness  and  power  preached 
in  the  market,  men  who  have  ministered  to  college 
students,  men  who  have  served  as  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  secretaries  and  who  have  been  real  shepherds 
of  the  people — and  all  at  smaller  salaries  than  they  could 
have  received  in  government  employ— confess  that  they 


THE  PROMISE  IN  ITS  FIRST-FRUITS    321 

were  touched  and  lifted  np  to  sacrifice  by  the  spirit  that 
they  learned  in  and  through  this  church. 

The  calibre  of  the  men  conducting  this  church  has  been 
such  that  attention  has  been  attracted  to  them  and  posi- 
tions of  influence  in  a  wider  Christian  circle  have  been 
tendered  them  ;  also  distinctions  have  been  heaped  upon 
them  by  merchants,  by  officials,  and  by  the  Church  at 
large.  One  of  the  elders  is  often  referred  to  as  "  Old  Re- 
liable," his  word  being  so  sure  and  his  character  so  de- 
pendable. Such  a  man  could  not  escape  outside  respon- 
sibility, and  he  has  become  one  of  the  most  respected  and 
trusted  directors  of  the  National  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  Board. 

The  session  has  become  the  clearing  house  for  many 
things  of  importance.  I  have  earlier  said  that  the  Chi- 
nese are  instinctive  democrats  ;  the  Christians  like  a  rep- 
resentative governmental  system,  in  religion  as  well  as 
in  politics,  such  as  Presbyterianism  stands  for.  It  is  of 
their  nature  to  do  things  through  an  arbitrator,  a  middle- 
man ;  and  thus  it  results  that  this  session  has  managed 
many  affairs,  both  inside  and  outside  of  its  own  local 
communion,  which,  though  not  strictly  sessional  business, 
have  yet  been  for  the  welfare  of  the  Christians  and  for 
the  development  of  the  church — a  fine  tribute  to  men's 
trust  both  of  their  character  and  their  judgment. 

The  session  might  well  be  a  heartener  to  any  pastor. 
Finer  elders  than  constitute  the  leadei-ship  of  this  church 
would  be  hard  to  find  in  a  Mission  land.  One  of  the 
elders,  once  a  beggar  boy,  is  now  the  owner  of  city 
blocks.  By  his  integrity  and  remarkable  reliability  he 
has  made  a  shining  mark  ;  quiet  and  unassuming,  he 
possesses  the  respect  and  confidence  of  all  who  know 
him  ;  and  he  is  well  known  in  North  China.  He  has 
adopted  several  children  and  educated  others.  His  bene- 
factions reach  far  and  wide  and  are  born  out  of  a  piety 


322  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

as  simple  as  evangelical.  His  faith  reminds  one  of 
Abraham,  his  judgment  is  sound,  his  devotion  to  Christ 
a  passion.  In  a  recent  real  estate  deal  with  a  grandson 
of  Li  Hung  Chang,  he  made  a  large  sum  of  money,  and 
instead  of  using  this  to  build  himself  a  house,  he  turned 
it  over  e7i  bloc  into  the  Lord's  work,  continuing  to  live  in 
several  rooms.  He  is  not  only  a  ruling,  but  also  a  pro- 
viding elder. 

Another  elder  is  a  professor  of  chemistry  in  a  German 
High  School.  He  has  done  evangelistic  work  that  is 
now  bringing  forth  soul-fruitage  manifold  among  the 
Chinese  higher  classes. 

Still  a  third  elder,  also  trained  by  able  and  honoured 
missionaries,  an  exceptionally  solid  man,  is  principal  of 
a  large  German  High  School  for  Chinese  boys.  He  and 
his  wife  are  two  of  the  most  devoted  disciples  of  Christ 
I  have  ever  met.  As  a  boy  his  heathen  parents  be- 
trothed him  to  her,  then  a  heathen  girl.  For  years  as 
his  wife  she  in  her  heathen  prejudice  was  unwilling  even 
to  look  upon  the  face  of  a  Christian  woman.  But  his 
prayers,  teaching  and  example  prevailed  and  now  she 
is  one  of  the  most  zealous  of  soul-winners,  powerful  in 
intercession,  rejoicing  to  come  often  to  our  home  for 
special  prayer  with  Mrs.  Scott  regarding  the  work. 

The  attitude  of  outsiders  towards  these  men  is  reflected 
in  this  fact :  the  Governor  of  this  Province  has  made  a 
gift  of  land  for  an  **  independent  church  "  to  be  located 
in  the  capital ;  a  gift  of  government  land  which  could 
not  be  bought,  but  which  the  Governor  offered,  some 
twenty  Chinese  acres  in  a  choice  section  of  the  city,  be- 
cause of  his  respect  for  and  belief  in  two  of  the  business 
3nen  connected  with  the  church. 

When  I  cast  about  for  an  explanation  of  the  mission- 
ary spirit  of  this  church,  I  think  I  find  its  rationale  in  a 
prayer- meeting  started  by  an  honoured  senior  colleague, 


THE  PROMISE  IN  ITS  FIRST-FRUITS    323 

Rev.  L.  J.  Davics.  This  prayer-meeting  is  held  every 
Wednesday  forenoon  ;  it  is  for  the  church  leaders — quite 
another  afifair  from  the  church  prayer- meeting  of  each 
Wednesday  evening.  It  has  been  my  privilege  when  in 
town  to  meet  with  the  brethren  in  this  service.  The 
idea  has  been  for  their  spirits  and  faith  to  burgeon  out 
and  take  in  thoughts  of  the  Church  universal ;  to  lift  up 
their  eyes  and  look  on  the  whole  field  which  is  the  world. 
They  have  refused  to  let  their  interests  be  coffined  in  their 
local  i^arish.  Their  purpose  has  been  strengthened  in 
this  service  to  pray  for  objects  outside  their  own  church 
and  its  interests,  to  intercede  for  men  and  things  of  the 
world-wide  Kingdom.  And  for  this  attitude  of  mind 
and  heart  it  has  received  a  priceless  gift — the  ability 
to  love  people  whom  they  have  never  seen,  people  of 
other  races  ;  and  to  be  deeply  concerned  for  the  projects 
of  God  not  within  the  circle  of  their  immediate  organ- 
ization. 

To  the  disobeyers  of  the  spirit  of  the  Last  Commis- 
sion all  this  is  but  as  idle  talk  ;  they  can  neither  under- 
stand nor  explain  away  this  stubborn  fact— only  the 
obedient  understand  and  rejoice  in  it — that  just  in  pro- 
portion as  a  church  becomes  a  fellow-sympathizer, 
fellow- worker,  and  fellow -sufferer  with  the  Lord  Jesns 
in  His  purpose  and  plan  and  passion  to  get  Himself 
made  known  to  the  humblest  person  on  the  farthest  rim 
of  the  planet,  does  that  church  get  the  capacity  to  take 
care  of  itself  and  of  its  own  needs  increasingly  well. 
The  uon-missionaryite  is  constantly  engaged  in  the 
business — short-sighted  and  laughable,  were  it  not  so 
pathetic — of  systematically  and  with  all  his  strength  cut- 
ting off  the  power  of  his  church  to  do  even  for  itself  in 
its  own  parish. 

There  is  a  reason  why  the  men  of  the  church  for  some 
time  were  heavily  interested  in  supporting  a  home  mis- 


324:  CHINA  FROM  WITHIN 

sionary  in  another  Province.  There  is  a  reason  why  the 
Chinese  women  organized  their  own  missionary  society 
with  fifty  charter  members,  their  numbers  increasing 
until  before  the  siege  they  included  practically  all  the 
women  of  the  church  and  even  outsiders — a  total  of 
some  one  hundred  and  thirty  members.  Many  of  these 
tithed  out  of  very  scanty  coppers ;  one  old  half-palsied 
woman  slowly  and  toilsomely  dragged  herself  on  foot 
from  the  East  Suburb  to  the  City  Church  in  order  to 
save  her  **cash,"  that  she  might  have  spent  for  rikisha 
fares,  to  put  into  the  missionary  box.  There  is  a  reason 
why,  with  the  first  news  of  the  floods  that  one  year  dis- 
tressed our  field,  the  members  responded  promptly  and 
generously,  according  to  their  strength,  several  members 
each  giving  fifty  dollars  and  one  giving  one  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars.  It  is  because  they  have  with  Jesus  lifted 
up  their  eyes  unto  the  whole  field,  which  is  the  world. 
The  blessing  of  the  entire  circle  is  sure  to  be  shared  with 
the  segments  of  the  same. 

One  of  the  business  men,  as  a  thank-offering  to  God  for 
saving  him  from  himself,  gave  five  hundred  dollars  to  de- 
fray all  expenses  of  revival  meetings  held  under  the  lead- 
ership of  Dr.  H.  A.  Johnston.  The  church,  through  its 
men  members,  who  are  leaders  in  a  Home  Missionary 
Society,  has  been  instrumental  in  raising  and  distribu- 
ting hundreds  of  dollars  for  preaching  the  Gospel,  both 
by  evangelists  and  Bible  women,  through  help  given  in 
establishing  village  schools  and  in  providing  rent  for 
chapels.  The  women,  many  of  them  out  of  poverty, 
pledged  themselves  to  give  eighteen  dollars  Mexican  a 
month  to  support  two  Bible  women  and  a  school.  They 
built  a  chapel  in  the  West  Suburb  and  put  a  school  into 
it.  They  also  established  a  village  school  in  our  church 
building  in  the  East  Suburb,  and  also  contributed  to  Mis- 
sion work  on  the  Thibetan  frontier. 


THE  PROMISE  IN  ITS  FIRST-FRUITS    325 

The  simplicity  and  directness  of  the  prayer  life  of  some 
of  the  members  of  this  church  would  be  an  inspiration  to 
any  Christian  worker,  and  they  have  had  some  remarka- 
ble answers  to  prayer.  They  have  prayed  for  a  great 
variety  of  things — for  the  guidance  of  their  members  on 
dangerous  roads,  for  rain  in  time  of  drought,  for  the  safety 
of  their  family  members  in  their  villages  on  river  banks 
during  floods.  They  have  prayed  for  good  crops,  for  the 
protection  of  our  country  pastors  and  others,  wonderfully 
vouchsafed ;  for  wayward  children,  for  the  recovery  of 
dear  ones  from  the  bondage  of  opium,  and  from  that  of 
gambling,  for  payment  of  debts  without  their  suing  the 
debtors,  for  the  warding  off  of  plague  from  Tsingtau  when 
it  was  all  about  them,  for  the  preserving  of  our  station 
buildings  and  of  their  church  and  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  building,  and  of  their  homes  and  business 
places  during  the  siege— and  all  of  these  prayers  have 
been  answered.  Nobody  could  convince  them  that  prayer 
is  not  a  reality. 

In  the  days  preceding  the  siege  with  its  disasters  they 
had  learned  well  the  truth  that  the  light  that  shines 
farthest  shines  brightest  at  home.  In  its  varied  and  mul- 
tifarious local  activities  it  has  proved  this  conclusively. 
It  can  claim  a  distinction  unique  among  our  stations  of 
Shantung ;  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  it  is 
the  only  prominent  church  of  this  section  that  has  not  re- 
ceived financial  aid  from  the  Mission  with  which  it  is 
connected;  that  from  the  date  of  its  organization  has 
been  self-supporting,  self-governing,  self-propagating. 

In  regard  to  its  plant  and  outfit  this  church  has  done 
excellently — buying  its  own  land,  erecting  its  own  brick 
and  stone  church  building,  paying  high  taxes  and 
making  many  improvements.  Growth  in  membership 
has  twice  necessitated  enlarging  the  church  building,  and 
once  doubling  its  seating  capacity.     From  the  beginning 


326  CHINA  FROM  AYITHIN 

the  Christians  have  called  their  own  pastor,  and  they 
have  erected  a  two-story  manse  for  him.  They  have 
built  their  own  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  build- 
ing and  part  of  the  time  had  their  own  secretary.  In  ad- 
dition they  have  paid  the  salaries  of  a  local  evangelist  and 
two  Bible  women,  and  organized  and  supported  their  own 
three  schools  with  teachers,  the  one  in  the  main  church 
building  in  the  Chinese  city  having  forty  pupils  and  car- 
rying boys  through  the  Middle  School  that  feeds  into  our 
High  School. 

The  tendency  has  been  in  our  country  churches  to  call 
a  theological  graduate  merely  as  a  stated  supply.  The 
Tsingtau  church  has  set  an  example  to  the  Presbytery  by 
installing  its  preacher  as  regular  pastor,  thus  avoiding 
the  disadvantages  of  stated  supply  relationship.  Other 
conditions  being  equal,  this  relation  of  permanency  be- 
tween pastor  and  people  should  reciprocally  be  a  source 
of  increasing  strength. 

In  the  case  of  all  its  workers — school-teachers,  evangel- 
ists, pastor,  Bible  women  and  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation secretary — the  salaries  have  been  higher  than 
those  paid  elsewhere  in  our  section  and  the  workers  have 
been  better  housed,  re-proving  the  truth:  "Make  me  a 
little  cake  first  and  want  shall  not  touch  you  through  all 
the  famine. '' 

These  churches  and  their  fellows  have  had  a  big  ideal — 
the  ideal  of  a  national,  independent,  self-supporting  church 
of  Christ.  They  refuse  to  be  kept  divided.  The  genius 
of  the  Chinese  is  for  solidarity. 

This  church  to-day  may  be  called  unique,  but  it  reveals 
what  may  ultimately  be  in  many  centres.  It  is  an  earnest 
of  the  Chinese,  Church-to-be,  a  foregleam  of  some  achieve- 
ments of  the  missionary  enterprise  in  China.  When, 
through  its  city -evangelization  project,  the  Gospel  shall 
have  reached  the  leaders  of  the  great  cities,  and  when 


THE  PROMISE  IN  ITS  FIRST-FRUITS    327 

their  educated,  spirit-filled  preachers  shall  have  secured 
for  Christ  the  minds  and  affections  of  their  gentry,  when 
the  consciences  and  wills  of  big-calibred  Chinese  men  of 
wealth  and  influence  in  these  cities  shall  have  been 
gripped  by  the  Spirit's  power,  then  we  shall  see  the  be- 
ginning of  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Satan  in  this  land,  the 
laud  whose  symbol  was  long,  and  only  too  fittingly,  the 
dragon. 


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